First Journeys
by Macross-Green
Summary: A journey of a fanmade character based on the games, not the anime. My first attempt at pokemon fanfiction.
1. Chapter 1

Pokemon- First Journeys by MacrossGreen  
  
Author's Note: This fic will be based on Leaf Green, but about two years afterwards. Ash and Gary (Red and Blue in the old games, respectively) are here, but I doubt that they'll make an appearance. I'll use the attitudes of the different trainers (and Gym Leaders) that are found in the anime, and I may as well tell ya now- the main character here isn't going to be the same as the one in the anime. Ash is decent, Gary's an asshole, so I thought I'd come up with my own character. Brock and Misty are gym leaders, and Misty, though she might have sisters, will not be the alternate gym leader. She's the real gym leader in the games, she's the real one here, too. I'll warn you about this- it's a bit more adult in this fic than most might think, for a pokemon fanfic. There'll be cursing and possible sexual innuendo (light if any), so this isn't entirely for the youngsters.  
  
Since this fic takes place 2 years after the events of Leaf Green, there will likely be some Johto pokemon leaking over to Kanto, like Hoothoot and Murkrow. Maybe some of the bugs too, Sentret, maybe. Because Scyther are only available in Johto in the National Park and in Kanto in the Safari Zone, and because the Safari Zone was closed in G/S/C, I'll make them appear somewhere. The gym leaders are the same as they are in G/S/C- Koga replaced by his daughter Janine, and the others still the same. I've also done conversion rates for the monetary system of the game into U.S. Dollars. The conversion rate is (on average) 80 "Poke" Dollars to every 1 U.S. Dollar, rounded to the nearest quarter.  
  
The day was going by slowly. The number of trainers passing through Fuchsia was steadily declining ever since the day that the Safari Zone announced that it would be moving and its doors closed within the next week. The gym had suffered as a result, the Gym leader having changed lately from the stealthy Koga to his daughter Janine. Both were ninjas, but many trainers didn't care for the invisible wall maze or the trainers who had begun to dress just like Janine did. The work at the Pokemon Center decreased along with the decrease of passing trainers. No Gym meetings were held in this small town- it was used, basically, as a place to arrive from Cinnabar Island or to see the few rare pokemon still left in the world. The small Pokemon zoo was already closed down, only the paths leading to the PokeMart and Safari Zone still open, the pokemon themselves taken away by their owner.  
  
At the Pokemon Center, a young man cleaned up the surgery room, mopping up water from the floor as he whistled. He had brown hair, somewhat red in places, and wasn't very tall. He could almost pass as the average pokemon trainer, if it wasn't for several things- he was 17, for one thing. For another, he didn't have any pokemon right now. As much as he would want one, there hadn't been any chances for him to get a pokemon from the local professor's lab since the time when he was 10 years old. He'd fallen sick that week, and remained sick for a week and a half before he got better. He'd missed his opportunity, and ever since, had not been able to get another. His few trips to the Safari zone had ended in a bust- often, he'd been attacked or the pokemon ran away. One time, some Team Rocket people had tried to get some pokemon, and that had ended his trip real quick (at least he'd received a refund that time). He'd come close to catching a Pinsir before, but his friend he had gone with ended up catching it instead- most of the time, things ended up like that.  
  
He got a job at the Pokemon Center to get used to pokemon, but as time went on, he began to take down information in general about pokemon. Types, attacks, size, strengths and weaknesses. He'd help with cleaning up around the center, as well as keeping things working. He was pretty good with computers, and had wired up the entire center, save for the trading machine. Strange how that was almost never used anymore. He learned and worked, while still going to school. He watched over the emergency 'center at night, since Nurse Joy closed the center late at night as part of the imposed curfew for trainers who stayed overnight.  
  
Today was different, though. Arik finished up the mopping, and smiled as he headed to the supply closet to get rid of the mop water in the drain there. Today was his last planned trip to the Safari Zone, by himself this time. His friends had become trainers or had other things to do, but basically couldn't come. There weren't any trainers around the center who wanted to go, since they had gone before coming here when they first arrived in town. So, as he pulled his silvery-blue light jacket on (a cheap little thing, really) and slipped his arms through the straps of his backpack, he pulled out his wallet to check on his finances. His parents had moved away a few months back, but because he was still in school, hadn't made him move with them, instead helping by meeting half his rent payment for a small apartment not too far from the pokemon center.  
  
He had enough, he saw, and smiled a bit as he put the wallet away. The sound of an exclaimed "Chansey, Chanseeey!" came from the entrance of the pokemon center, and Nurse Joy's voice called out to some trainer, he suspected, who had just wandered in. With a stretch, Arik walked down the hallway, after closing the door to the closet, stopping for a moment to look into the intensive care unit to see the pokemon in there. The only one in the unit was a Sandslash, who seemed to look a little purple along it's sides and the points of its hide. "Toxic got that one." he murmered, and he shrugged slightly. It was recovering nicely, though it would take a day or so before the effects of that strong Poison attack would fully wear off. He'd seen many cases like that one here- after all, Fuchsia City was the site of the Kanto Region's Poison Gym and Soul Badge.  
  
Walking on, he found himself out in the lobby where a young teenager was talking with Nurse Joy. From the look on the pink-haired woman's face, either the boy was talking about something nasty or was giving her compliment that she liked (possibly both?). He chuckled softly and waved over to Joy, who glanced at Arik and waved back before returning her gaze to the trainer at her counter. Arik patted Chansey's head as he passed by where it was washing the window, and Chansey turned and waved with one of it's stubby arms as he walked out the sliding doors and into... well, the sky was overcast but there wasn't any rain falling yet. He smiled, his steps quickening until his legs started to pick up some speed, going from a walk to a jog as he headed down the sidewalk that he would take before getting to the street that would wind up all the way at the Safari Zone.  
  
Too bad that his jogging to the corner, even as he slowed down to take it, caused him to impact someone in blue. The crash knocked both of them down, and Arik groaned as his ass it the pavement. A cry from the other (feminine!) was followed by a scrape and a thud, along with another cry as she landed as well. When Arik opened his eyes, he could see Officer Jenny (one of them) there, her legs akimbo and a pokeball on the ground beside her, as well as some folder or something. "Ow... Um, sorry, officer. Are you alright?" he asked Jenny with concern in his voice. They'd met on several occasions, but Jenny never bothered giving him the time of day normally. She hung out with Joy all the time though, so she at least knew his name.  
  
"Yeah, I'm alright... you better watch where you're going though, or I might have to take you in." she told him as she moved to stand. Arik stood first, and held out a hand to hel her up. She didn't take his hand, and instead stood on her own, kneeling beside her things to gather them up. "Oh great, now I'm going to be late. Thanks a lot, kid." she exclaimed, and then she was off, pokeball back on her belt and folder in hand. Her greenish-hair bounced as she ran down the street, turning the corner before disappearing from sight completely.  
  
"Geez, sorry, officer Jenny." he replied, and he couldn't help but to sigh, and then breathe deeply- she was an attractive woman, after all, and his eyes had strayed on her perhaps a tad bit too long before he remembered his task today. She never seemed to cut anyone any slack unless they were also an officer or a pokemon.  
  
"Safari Zone, come on, stay on track." he told himself, both mentally and vocally. With a chuckle and a dismissing of how enticing watching Jenny run had been, he turned the corner himself and headed north towards the Safari Zone. Many people passed by, some with smaller pokemon at their sides or riding on their shoulders- mostly unevolved flying types, like Pidgey. The town was quite into poison pokemon, so there were plenty or Ekans and Koffing about. They were rare, but some even had Nidoran pokemon with them. The Nidorans were one of his favorite pokemon, to tell the truth- easy to handle but rather tough, no matter what evolutionary phase they are at. The town had a policy on Grimer and Muks, though- Pokeballs only, unless in a battle. It was an unwritten rule, but definitely one that needed to be followed. Those pokemon could stink up several blocks of homes for weeks before the stench would dissipate.  
  
It took him about 20 minutes to walk down the street to the Safari Zone, where a large sign proclaimed that this next weekend would be the last open days of the once-popular tourist attraction. Prices were slashed lower than he had thought they would be, and Arik grinned as he saw that the 45 minute session was going at the rate he had expected (and known) the 30 minute session to normally go at. There weren't many tourists or trainers about- a perfect opportunity, he hoped, as he headed in the wide open doors. Inside were some tourists, and they occupied the time of most everyone working there. Fortunately for Arik, a red-headed man managed to slip away to greet him.  
  
"Hello, my name is Tyson. Are you looking to get into the Safari Zone today? We have a special going on this last week, half-off for each timed session that's listed on the board." he said, smiling warmly in greeting to Arik. The man wasn't very tall and was a little overweight perhaps, but he wasn't as big as, say, Hikers tend to be. Arik nodded and pulled his wallet out to get the money for the man, who was waiting there. Arik pulled out $33 dollars (three-10 dollar bills and three-1 dollar bills) and handed them to him.  
  
"Yeah, I think now's as good a time to go and try my luck again. Ya know, every other time I come here, I've never caught a thing?" he says, laughing a little bit before shaking his head. Tyson took the money, smiling still, and pulled out a stopwatch, setting it for 45 minutes. Then, he handed it to Arik, describing the functions of the stopwatch and the layout of the Safari Zone areas before going over the rules.  
  
"Don't start this until you're past those doors. You'll get 45 minutes to catch as many pokemon as you want, but be careful of the pokemon. We've had rumors that someone from Johto came here a while ago and now there are some strange pokemon in the depths of the Safari Zone, so watch out for them. And, you get 30 Park Balls..." and with that, Tyson walked over to a counter and then behind it, pulling out a sack of the capture devices for Arik, tossing the tied bag over to him. Arik caught it and grinned. "No using Pokemon inside the 'Zone, of course. That sack has a small bag of bait, so feel free to use that to entice the pokemon. You can throw rocks too, but I wouldn't suggest doing that. They tend to attack if you attack them."  
  
Arik took that information to heart- he'd known better about throwing rocks ever since he threw one at a Rhyhorn here. And that, he learned, was a good way to get run over! Fortunately, one of Arik's friends had pulled him out of the way and they ran like crazy out of the area. "No kidding... having an angry Rhyhorn on my ass is not the way I'd want to spend my time here. Again, that is." he said, laughing, which also got Tyson and a few others who were around to laugh as well. Tyson waved him on out, and with a nod and smile, Arik headed on out from the guard house and into the Safari Zone, clicking on the stopwatch to start counting down the time. Forty-five minutes and counting down.  
  
It took only a few minutes for Arik to reach an area away from the guardhouse, so he couldn't see it anymore. In the time in the guardhouse he had spent, the clouds had darkened, and he could tell it would rain any time now- since that was happening, things around the 'Zone would change. Rhyhorns would be hiding in their caves, the Chansey would be hidden away in the furthest reaches of the place. Grass and Water types would come out from hiding more easily, he knew, and it was pretty likely that he would be able to use the rain to his advantage. He started walking down a hill towards the lake, and he smiled- a bunch of Tauros in the distance, some Kangaskhan heading to the trees. He didn't see any Bug-types; must be in the trees already, he thought to himself. A cry from his left, towards the lake, got his attention- it was a familiar one, he knew, from trainers who had passed by the pokemon center. Not many used it because of the weakness to Psychic and Ground attacks, even if it was simply a Poison type.  
  
A rather small, male Nidoran was headed in his direction, running towards the trees- must not like rain too much, he thought, even as he grinned and opened the sack of pokeballs he had set on his belt. He pulled out a Park Ball and enlarged it with a touch, throwing it at the Nidoran immediately. The Nidoran let out a cry of surprise as it felt the impact, half-blinded from the rain which had just started to really pour from the skies now. The ball leapt back up as the two halves opened, a red beam of light enveloping the small pokemon and drawing it into the pokeball. The two halves converged and connected again as the ball fell to the ground and landed before it rocked back and forth quickly. Once quickly, the second time, not so fast, and then a third time a violent rocking before it finally settled down. The indicator button lit red once and then slowly died away, leaving the indicator black and the ball in one place.  
  
Arik let out a jubilant "YES!" as he threw he walked over to the ball, rain falling fairly hard right now. The plains area was now getting a thorough soaking, and the ground was turning to mud as he stooped down to pick up the pokeball. A roar came from a ways across the lake, and Arik stood back up, collapsing the slightly muddy pokeball in his hand and slipping it into an empty pocket as he looked in that direction. He couldn't see very well, but he could see some pokemon in the distance seeming to struggle against something- mud, maybe? He headed in that direction now, going slowly as he walked so as not to slip in the growing mud at his feet. His jacket was soaked, and the temperature had dropped pretty badly since he had arrived, and now he was shivering a bit as his hands moved to zip up the jacket and button it up, so that his shirt wouldn't get completely soaked... yet.  
  
By the time Arik got very close, the rain was starting to let up- he had about 5 minutes left before his time was up. The struggling pokemon had ended up being further away than he had thought it would be, and when he got closer, there was a startled cry- a Tauros, if he heard the cry right. Then the thudding of hooves was audible... but actually, it was a soft, 'plooshing' sound from all four hooves as the large pokemon sped away quickly. With a sigh, Arik came up to where the struggle had been and he shrugged slightly, finding nothing else there. "Damn... well, hell, guess I should head back to the guardhouse." he says to himself, and then he moved to turn around. Then, he paused, smelling something in the air that he wasn't unfamiliar with. He had to deal with that particular scent quite often at times.  
  
It was a pokemon's blood he smelled, and when he heard a pained, soft cry, Arik looked back towards where it had come from. He didn't recognize the cry, nor the pokemon he found there, badly cut along it's long torso and bleeding pretty bad. "Oh shit... come on little guy, time to get to a pokemon center. Don't fight the pokeball now, and trust me, I'll get you some real medical help, okay?" he said to the long blue pokemon he was now kneeling beside. His pants were covered in mud now, and he drew a Park Ball out and touched the indicator to the pokemon's head. The pokemon gave a soft cry before being drawn into the pokeball- the indicator flashed red and then faded to black immediately afterwards. It didn't even rock, and the pokemon was safely inside. He didn't know how bad the extent of it's wounds were, but Arik didn't care.  
  
He got to his feet fast and ran, not walked, to the guardhouse. "I need a ride to the Pokemon City right now! I have a pokemon that was attacked by a Tauros, and it's bleeding really bad!" he said to the staff, after a quick gaze around told him that Tyson wasn't around this time. A woman who was standing near the door looked at him, and seeing the state Arik was in, waved him over to her and he went, dropping the extra pokeballs off on the counter along with the stopwatch as he hurried to her.  
  
"I'll drive. Follow me." she said, and he followed the blonde woman from inside the guardhouse and to the car that she led him to. It was only a moment before the doors were unlocked, they were inside, and the car was off with both buckled up. Two minutes later they screeched into the driveway of the pokemon center he worked at, and he was up and out of the seat, unbuckling quick before opening the car door and running to the sliding doors, yelling back a thanks. Then, as he stepped inside, he looked around quickly. The Chansey made a noise of surprise, not used to seeing Arik back after leaving for the day already. "Nurse Joy, this pokemon I got is bleeding like crazy!" he said to her as he found her at, where else, the counter. She stood up and Arik pulled out the Safari Ball with the blue pokemon in it, handing it to her. "I don't know what kind of pokemon it is, actually... never seen it before. It was attacked by a Tauros, please help it, Joy." he says quickly, and she just nodded, a stern look on her face as she took the pokeball and motioned for Chansey to follow her.  
  
Nurse Joy's voice called back to him. "I'll do what I can! Cover for me, okay?" was her response, and she disappeared behind the double doors of the surgery room with the Chansey. The doors were locked and the red sign up above with the needle on it glowed as she got to work. With a sigh, Arik went behind the counter and pulled out his other pokeball. He'd have to update his trainer status to active, get a new ID, and get himself a Pokedex from someplace. However, first thing's first, he thought, as he worried about that blue pokemon he had found mangled. He took his pokeball out and expanded it, feeling the weight in his hand that signified that it did indeed have a pokemon inside of it. He walked over to the healing device and set the pokeball into it, pushing the tray into the wall mounted apparatus to let it do it's thing.  
  
"Well, Nidoran... after you get healed, we'll have some proper introductions, okay buddy?" he said to the pokemon, who was now being healed even inside the pokeball. He walked back to the computer behind the counter and pulled up the internet. Broadband's a wonderful thing, he thought to himself, even as he grinned and pulled up the Pokemon Trainer's initial profile login. He logged in, using his password after a few failed tries- not having to update since the age of 10 made it a nearly forgotten word, after all. He wound up fixing everything to make it up-to-date, and he sighed softly as he waited for some news from Nurse Joy, or at least that little...  
  
A musical tone came from the healing apparatus, signifying that the pokemon inside was finished being healed. With a small smile, he walked back to the tray that emerged from the wall, and he took the pokeball from it. "I'll have to come up with a name for you, I think... But for now, come on out, Nidoran." he says, pointing the indicator away from him and towards the floor in front of him. The red beam shot out of the ball, and the male Nidoran appeared, sitting on its haunches as he smiled softly. "Well, little guy, you're my first pokemon ever." he said to the Nidoran, who just started nibbling at it's rear left leg, ignoring Arik almost completely right now. "How would you like to have a name, hm? What about... I think I'll call you Tsai." he says to the Nidoran, who finally looked back up to its new trainer.  
  
"Niiii!" was it's cry, and it launched itself at Arik, jumping into the air only to come down onto his chest. He was knocked down from the blow, something like a tackle attack, but then Tsai began to rub it's head against Arik's chest, causing the new pokemon trainer to smile. "Hmm... Well, I guess you like me, huh? I hope you like the other pokemon I found... I hope it gets better, too." he says, reaching up to scratch behind the Nidoran's ear. The response was immediate- his eyes closed and a soothing sound came from its throat as it leaned into Arik's hand. Arik was still pretty worried about that blue pokemon, even as he idly scratched Tsai's ear. "Hmm... I wonder how Nurse Joy is doing?" he asked aloud.  
  
Two hours later, the light above the door with the needle sign turned off, going black from being lit up red. Nurse Joy came out from the surgery room and to the counter, where Arik and his new Nidoran were taking a nap. No one had come into the pokemon center in all this time, and they'd gotten pretty tired. A nudge on the shoulder woke Arik, and the sound of a Chansey coming out woke up Tsai. "Huh... wha... Nurse Joy? How is the pokemon?" he asked, sleepy but quickly waking up as he remembered why he had come back here in the first place.  
  
"Well, I did all I could. It lost a lot of blood, so we'll have to wait for the night to see how it recovers." she said, her sweet voice sounding very tired and stressed. "It is extremely weak right now. I can't believe that it survived an attack from a Tauros, considering how young it is." she commented as Arik walked out from behind the counter, taking a moment to pick up his new Nidoran before coming in front of her and smiling softly. She looked to the Nidoran and smiled sweetly, kneeling slightly as she reached over to scratch behind Tsai's ear, just like Arik had done earlier.  
  
"Nurse Joy, thanks for your help... this little Nidoran here is Tsai. I found him before I got the pokemon you just helped." he smiled still, one hand holding the little Nidoran up while his other moved to cross over it's chest lightly, helping to prop the Nidoran up as it strained to lean against Joy's hand. The Chansey came over and started talking with Tsai, and both Joy and Arik laughed lightly at this. "I should ask you about two things, Joy..." he started, and she looked back up at Arik even as he stepped back and set Tsai on the floor so he and Chansey could continue talking.  
  
"What is it, Arik? I'll help if I can, you know that." she said, and smiled warmly to him. The way she smiled at him at times made him wonder if she liked him as more than just a friend, but he wasn't about to pursue her yet- relationships at work could lead to bad things, after all. She tilted her head, her pink curls falling to the side somewhat as she smiled so nicely that her eyes seemed to shut as she gave him an almost cheesy grin.  
  
"Well, um..." and he trailed off for a second, his face a little red as a result of how she was smiling at him- almost flirting with him, it seemed. "I need to get a Pokedex, actually." he says to her quickly, though slowly enough for her to understand him easily enough. She laughed softly and nodded at that. He tried to straighten up a bit, to relax and to stop blushing as he looked to the floor where his Nidoran was. The Chansey left, and the Nidoran rubbed against his legs, causing him to shiver a little as he felt Tsai's spikes rub against his pant leg and the leg within.  
  
"Well, I can call up Professor Oak and ask if he could send a Pokedex down here. I'm sure he'd love to know that you found the pokemon that was injured, too." she said, smiling sweetly again. Arik was surprised at her words, and he blinked as if to express that. She understood his surprise and confusion, and could appreciate it, as she continued. "You brought in a Dratini, Arik. First one I've seen myself, ever." and she patted his shoulder a few times before giving a squeeze. "But that can wait. You go get a shower, now. I'll keep Tsai company until you're done, okay?" she says, reaching up to Arik's shoulders to guide him around to the hallway where pokemon trainers usually bunk up to sleep. There were bathrooms as well, for men and women, down that way, including shower stalls.  
  
Arik chuckled softly and followed the pink haired woman's words as she pushed him that way. "Tsai, stay with Nurse Joy for a little while, okay? I'll be back in a little bit." he called back, and a high pitched "Niiidor!" was the response, causing Nurse Joy to giggle even as he walked down the hallway and to the restroom to take himself a shower. Soon, the slam of a door could be heard, and that was all that was heard from Arik for a good 10 minutes.  
  
Nurse Joy was busy giving Tsai a check-up at the counter when Arik came back out, short brown hair wet but combed back and with shorts on instead of his muddy pants. His shirt was the same though, and his jacket was hanging on the back of a chair in one of the Trainers' bunk rooms. A sigh pre-empted his arrival, and Tsai gave a shrill cry to him as if to greet Arik's coming back. "How're things with my little buddy there, hm?" he asked Nurse Joy, who just looked up at him and smiled.  
  
"So far so good, Arik. It's your other new friend I'm more worried about right now. After I'm done with Tsai here, I'm going to give Professor Oak a call. Outside of anyone in Johto, I think he's the most knowledgable around here about Dragon pokemon." she said, and Arik nodded. He knew about Professor Oak- who didn't? Even people who didn't care too much about Pokemon knew about the man. He is world famous, after all. And to talk with the man himself, the famous professor who makes his home in Pallet Town? Well, who wouldn't want that paticular honor?  
  
"Well, that's fine with me... Can I go see it?" he asked, and she nodded. "That Dratini is a girl, Arik." she said, patting tsai's back lightly before nodding to it, motioning to have it go back over to his new trainer. Tsai rubbed against Nurse Joy's chest for a second, causing her to giggle a little before it jumped off the counter and ran after Arik. "Well, come on Tsai, let's go see our other friend, and hope she'll get better tonight." he said, and as Tsai came alongside Arik, he let out a "Niii!" in response.  
  
"I think that your doing that is always gonna make me smile, Tsai." He told the little Nidoran, and then he just laughed softly, quieting down as they came to the doors of the intensive care unit. Beside the Toxic-poisoned Sandslash was his Dratini, who seemed to be shivering as it quivered in place on top of the thick sheets. He went to the door and smiled softly as he opened it. "Come on in, Tsai, but be quiet, okay? These two need to get their rest." he says, whispering to him. Tsai simply nodded, and in they went. Arik walked over to the bed that the Dratini was in, and he could tell that it was still in a lot of pain. Bandages were wrapped all over her body, and most of them were still bloodstained. With a sigh, Arik went over to the water basin and got himself a bowl filled with water. He went to get a towel, and brought it back to the bowl, putting the small thing into it to get it wet. Then he walked back to the table with the bowl, only to find that his Nidoran was curled up beside the Dratini, causing Arik to smile.  
  
A flash of pink went by at about eye-height, past the window, and he looked over to see Joy smiling and giving him a thumbs-up. He smiled back as he took the towel out of the water and twisted it, forcing as much of the water out as he could but leaving the towel damp, and he rubbed it onto the portions of the Dratini's body that weren't covered with bandages. Her breathing was labored, but now that her body was becoming a little moist again, the Dratini's breathing became less strained. "Hey, Tsai? Can you use this towel to keep her wet for a little while?" he asked the Nidoran. He looked up to Arik and nodded, taking the towel in his mouth and lowered it into the bowl beore moving it along the same places that Arik had. "Thank, Tsai, we'll get you something to eat soon. I bet you're pretty hungry, huh?"  
  
With that, Arik smiled and lightly trailed his fingers along the Dratini's now damp, small muzzle before walking quietly back to the door. He left while being very careful not to make any noise, and he looked over to Joy. "Come one, Arik. Let's go call Professor Oak." she said softly, smiling in a way he'd never actually seen her smile like before. He must have had a look of confusion on his face as a result, because she just started giggling before she took him by the shoulders and turned him around again, but this time walking behind him, pushing him back to the counter. He had the thought in his head that she was flirting with him. Trouble is, he'd never seen her flirt, but she'd been this pushy and friendly with others before.  
  
"Oh, alright. You do the talking though, I'm not really good at introducing myself to people I don't know, after all, on the phone." he said, looking over his shoulder at her before reaching back to tickle her side a little. A giggle broke into laughter, and he grinned as she slapped his hand away from her playfully. Yep, he thought to himself. She's must be flirting, instead of just the usual fun that they'd have when things were really quiet. He smiled and walked along in front of her until they got to the counter, and then let her go ahead of him. "Well now, go ahead, Joy." he says to her, smiling softly before putting a hand on her shoulder and giving her a soft squeeze. That just made her smile at him before dialing up Professor Oak's number.  
  
Ring.... Ring.... "Ah, hello? Ah, Nurse Joy! And which town might you be calling from?" came a voice that belonged to the face that soon appeared on the screen. An elderly man with a white lab coat and gray hair showed up on the screen, smiling as he looked into the camera phone that would obviously show him both Nurse Joy and Arik, standing behind her. Nurse Joy smiled and nodded at his recognizing her (but then again, she looks exactly like all the other Nurse Joys, so of course he would ask which town she was calling from).  
  
"I'm calling from Fuchsia City, Professor. I just had a rather unusual encounter with a pokemon, and I thought you might be interested in hearing about it from the trainer who caught her." she told him, and then moved aside so that Arik could duck down a bit and smile into the camera, somewhat embarassed by being put on the spot. It took him a minute to actually gather up the nerve to say anything, but fortunately, Oak was very patient. Obviously, he had dealt with this sorta thing pretty often.  
  
"Ah... hello, professor. I, ah, caught a Dratini in the Safari Zone today. I didn't even know it was one until I got to the pokemon center. It's in the ICU ward right now." he says to the old man, who suddenly got a surprised expression on his face. Arik could tell from Professor Oak's reaction that he hadn't heard of anyone finding one there before. He could only wonder how often he'd actually dealt with dragon-type pokemon, but there really wasn't any way to tell until he said something again.  
  
"A Dratini in the Safari Zone? That's amazing! It's too bad that the Zone is being closed up, but if what you say is true, then that would make it the perfect reserve for those pokemon." he said, smiling again though obviously wanting to see the Dratini. "Is there any way to see this Dratini, Nurse Joy? And could you tell me how it got so badly hurt?" he asked, and Nurse Joy nodded, reaching to the keyboard to switch Professor Oak to that feed. Arik answered his question, however.  
  
"She was attacked by a Tauros when it was raining, professor. When I got over there to see what had happened, she was bleeding pretty badly." he told him. "She didn't struggle at all when I caught her, but that wasn't really important at the time, since she was bleeding so bad. I just needed to get her back here so Nurse Joy could help her." Arik concluded, and he smiled to Nurse Joy, thanking her again for her help with the Dratini.  
  
"Why is there a small Nidoran beside the Dratini... and why is he wiping a towel on her?" was the voice of Professor Oak, who had by now put up two windows- one showing him Nurse Joy and Arik, the other showing the Dratini and Tsai. Arik and Joy both laughed softly and smiled at the same time into the web camera. Professor Oak chuckled softly as he watched that as well as the two pokemon. "This is the first time I've ever seen a Nidoran caring for another pokemon like that, it's rather amazing. Is there any way to have those two transferred over to my lab for a little while so I could do a little research with them?" he asked them, a small smile on his face.  
  
"Well, I asked Tsai- that's my Nidoran I caught in the Safari Zone as well. I asked him to keep the Dratini a little wet, and he seemed to know just what to do to help with that. The Dratini seems to prefer keeping moist, because it was shaking earlier when I went in there before we started wiping water on her. It settled down, so I'm guessing that Dratini might stay near, or even under, water, wherever exactly they live. And to tell the truth, those are my first two pokemon, so I suppose I could delay going out and about for a little while, if you really want to go ahead and study them, then I guess that can be arranged." Arik replies. Joy slipped away from the conversation, smiling to Arik as she walked back out from the counter and down the hallway towards the ICU.  
  
"That would be wonderful! But please, take good care of your Dratini. I wouldn't want to take her attention from you until after she's recovered from her trauma. A Tauros attacked her, you said? Well, I can't say I'm surprised, some Tauros can be very dangerous." was the professor's response. "Still, I hope you can spare her sometime after she has recovered, because I would love to work with a Dratini. It's been years since I've had the chance to make any observations about dragon pokemon. Oh... ah, what did you say your name was young man?" As the professor talked, Arik took a seat in the chair that Joy had vacated, and looked back up to the web camera as he heard the question be asked.  
  
Arik just nodded and smiled at that information. "My name is Arik, professor. I'll be happy to send her your way sometime, Professor, after she's completely recovered. Thing is, though... ah... without a pokedex registration, I'm not really allowed to transfer pokemon, am I?" Arik asks, and Oak has to watch him for a minute without saying anything. The look on Oak's face said it all- 'How old is this kid?' Finally, Professor Oak smiled again and nodded in agreement.  
  
"That is certainly true. But according to this, you already have a pokedex from... several years ago? No, no... I suppose I'll have to try sending you one soon. You haven't been an active trainer until today, from what it says on your profile, so the old one would be expired. Could you tell me why, Arik?" the professor asked. Obviously, the old man had lots of questions for the one trainer he had just met who had caught, of all things, a dragon-type pokemon.  
  
"Well, basically, I was sick for a few weeks when it came to be my turn to choose a pokemon at the research lab nearby. My spot was picked up by another trainer, and I was stuck going to the Safari Zone to try and catch pokemon, but I'd never had any luck until today. The pokedex I had was destroyed when I through a rock at a Rhyhorn and... well, it charged me, and you know how Rhyhorn are. I dropped my pokedex on accident when I was pulled out of the way of danger. I've been working at this Pokemon Center for a few years, too, so I've learned a few things about pokemon. I'm just glad I found the Dratini when I did and get her back here in time." he said, falling a little quiet as a worried look came across his face for an instant. This didn't escape Oak's notice, who just smiled a bit as he could tell that the trainer obviously cared for the pokemon.  
  
"I see. Well, it looks like you'll have your hands full, working with two pokemon to begin with, and one being a Dragon to boot. I'd better get going Arik, but you can expect a Pokedex to arrive at the pokemon center in a day or two. Ta!" and with that, Professor Oak's image disappeared from the screen. Arik leaned back into the chair with a sigh, slumping into the rest as he looked up towards the ceiling, only to get startled and knocked down as his legs seemed to jump up in surprise. "Nurse Joy!" he exclaimed, finding her looking down at him with a look of amusement on her face before she broke out laughing at his antics. He groaned as he hit the floor, raising one hand up to rub at the back of his head before he slipped to the side and back to his knees, and then to his feet as he lifted the chair back up onto it's legs again.  
  
"Yep! I just gave dinner to Chansey and Tsai, and I even got some food that your Dratini can eat when it's feeling better. You had a good idea, keeping it's skin wet. Tsai's doing a really good job, but he's really young. Tell ya what. I'll order a pizza, and you can stay here tonight to watch over the Dratini. The Sandslash's trainer will be back tomorrow- its trainer is out with family or on a date or something. Keep an eye on that one too, okay? By the time the pizza's here, I'll have to close down the center for the night." she says, smiling as she slips into the cushioned chair that he'd been sitting in and pulled up the phone again, cutting the feed to the ICU, which was showing the hungry pokemon in the ICU getting fed.  
  
"Sounds like a plan... I'm kinda tired though, so there's no way I can really stay awake all night, you know." was Arik's reply, and he chuckled softly as he shut up, listening to Nurse Joy order some pepperoni pizza for the two of them. This was going to be a long night, he realized- the sun had already gone down and it was getting close to 10 o'clock. In two years and more of working here at night, there had only been three times when there had been an emergency call, and tonight doesn't look to be one of 'em.  
  
A scooter came up the driveway and right on up to the doors. Two little beeps came from it, and after a moment, the motor from the scooter couldn't be heard as it was turned off. "Sounds like a lawnmower!" Arik muttered, sitting at the counter as Joy had gone off to get a nap before the pizza arrived. The pizza delivery person who walked in through the opening that the sliding door had made when it opened was an attractive young woman that he thought was familiar. "Hello! One large pepperoni pizza?" she called out, smiling attractively as she walked up to the counter. "It's 10 dollars even." she said, even as Arik stood up and pulled out his wallet. This was gonna leave him broke, he thought, as he pulled out a ten dollar bill and handed it over, putting his wallet away as she took the money and then handed the pizza over to him.  
  
"Yeah, that'd be for us... Nurse Joy will be out here in a minute or so." he told her, smiling as he set the pizza down on the counter. The brunette before him tilted her head, looking to be thinking about something. He watched her, a feeling in the back of his mind nagging at him that he knew her somehow. "Hey... have we met before? Are you a trainer maybe?" he asked her. She didn't seem to be too old, probably around his age. He saw a single pokeball hooked to a strap along her Pizza Hut jacket, which made him think that he probably had seen her before while he was working at the pokemon center. She just smiled slightly, a mischievious look in her eyes before she closed the little pizza warmer up that she had carried the pizza in here in.  
  
"Yeah, I'm a trainer, but I was low on money so I got a job in town. I can't wait to get outta here though, but not until I beat Janine!" she said, and he grinned slightly. So, she was a gym hopeful, but with only a single pokemon (that he could see)? "That Soul Badge... hardly anyone here in Kanto bothers to get it because the gym leader here is so tough to defeat. I want to get that badge before I leave again." she said, perhaps more to herself than to Arik. She had skillfully evaded the part of his question that hinted that he wanted to learn her name, he thought, and he nods slightly to her in response.  
  
"Yeah, I know what you mean. I'll be going on my own journey pretty soon, too. I finally got myself a pair of pokemon to start training." he replied, smiling as he heard footsteps lead towards the lobby and he turned to see Nurse Joy walking out, her curls undone and fairly long pink hair hanging down over her shoulders and behind her back. Her hair actually reached her mid-back, and her clothes looked a little disheveled as she yawned, one hand reaching up to cover her mouth. "Good timing, Nurse Joy. Dinner's here." he said, chuckling softly even as he heard a soft giggle from the delivery girl. He glanced back over to her, and saw that she was watching him before she noticed that she had been seen watching him.  
  
"Well, I better be going. I'll bring in my pokemon later on for a check up, okay?" she told them, smiling to the two before he headed towards the door. Out she went and down went the metal shutters as Joy pushed the 'Close' button. Arik chuckled softly as he saw how Joy looked, and winked at her as he walked down to the hallway leading to the ICU.  
  
"I'll be right back, Joy. Just want to see how they're doing in there." he said, referring to, of course, his pokemon. Nurse Joy nodded, and went over to the box of pizza to pull out a slice to begin her eating as he disappeared down the hallway.  
  
Arik came to the door to the ICU and then went inside. He smiled a little, seeing that his little Tsai was asleep, and that the Dratini was resting comfortably. He walked close to the bed with the Dratini and Tsai in it, smiling softly as he reached to the Dratini's bandages, lightly sliding his fingertips along them to see how bad the wounds were for himself. He could feel the warmth from the pokemon coming from beneath the bandages, and his fingers came away reddened and a little sticky from the contact. "I hope you get better... I really want to meet you, little one, and I want you to meet me, and Nurse Joy, and Professor Oak." he whispered to her, his clean hand lifting up to cup the pokemon's muzzle gently, making sure not to stifle the pokemon's breathing with his hand. The pokemon seemed to sniff at his hand, but he couldn't be sure since it didn't do anything else. The Dratini's eyes remained closed as it rested there, and Arik left the pokemon's bed, stopping in a rest room to wash his hands before walking back out to the lobby to get some pizza for himself.  
  
When he arrived, he smiled as he saw Nurse Joy at work on the computer again. She looked up at Arik and he saw her hand move the mouse pointer up and she clicked, even as she stood up to get another slice of pizza. By the time he got over there, he could see that that was the third slice to be taken away, and he looked at her warily with a smile. "Now, now... better watch that cute figure of yours, nurse. I have to admit though, I like your hair down instead of up and in curls all the time." he teases her, grabbing a slice of pizza from the box to eat as well now. Though, he did mean the part about her hair. She looked good like this, very much so.  
  
As a response to that, Joy blushed and looked down before moving back to the chair and getting back to work, one-handed, on the computer as she continued to eat her pizza. Arik thought he heard her say something like 'Thank You', but he hadn't heard her clearly, and he didn't want to embarass her any more than he already seemed to have. The next few minutes were spent in the silence associated with eating food, as they both concentrated on different things- Joy with her computer, Arik with eating his fill of the pizza. Afterwards, a printer came online, buzzing away as Joy printed something off the computer. It was working on several pages it sounded like, and Arik soon left the counter area, the awkward silence finally driving him away.  
  
His steps brought him back to the ICU, rather than to one of the bunk rooms that Trainers used while passing through. He stepped into the room again, and this time Tsai was awake and sitting up beside the Dratini. The Nidoran watched him as he came over, and Arik reached over to rub Tsai's back lightly as he smiled. "Thanks, Tsai. Good work keeping our friend comfortable." he told him, and he could tell that Tsai would have responded if it wasn't for the fact that the Dratini between them was still resting. "I wish there was something more we could do for you, Dratini... well, I guess we can come up with a name for you, huh? Hm..." and he trailed off, wondering just what he would name her. He walked over to one of the chairs along the wall, smiling a little as he sat down, considering different names to give the Dratini.  
  
Arik fell asleep quickly afterwards, his arms crossed over his chest as his head rested down, his chin on his chest as he began to snore softly. Tsai made a soft noise when he realized his trainer was dead to the world, and then settled down as well into a deep sleep. Neither would wake until the next day.  
  
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Well, that's it for Chapter One. Wow. I made a crappy rough draft and that in itself was 12kb large when I finished with what would've been the first chapter. Then I go ahead and re-write the entire beginning, and I write what could actually be about 3 chapters or so. Comments would be appreciated, but please, leave any flames regarding differences between the games and the anime out. I explained about those at the beginning, after all. Now, these two are pretty much my favorite pokemon in the games (at least, Nidoran evolves into my favorite pokemon outside of Pidgeot and Espeon). If anyone has suggestions, feel free to e-mail me at 


	2. Chapter 2

First Journeys Chapter 2 by MacrossGreen  
  
Author's Note: Not much to say here. I'm not entirely sure how to finish up with this little fanfic without feedback, but I think I know where to go at this point. I think it'll be a pretty long series, at this rate. I seem to have taken my style from the Mega Man Legends fics I've written and transferred it over to this pokemon fic. Correct me if I'm wrong about that, of course. hehe  
  
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Arik was woken up in the morning by Tsai's little cry. "Niiii! Ni! Niiiidorrr!" and Arik smiled a little before his face went blank, his eyes showing how serious he got as he remembered the Dratini that was lying beside Tsai. He began to panic a little, his steps slow as he headed over to the pokemon on the bed. He came over the bed, eyes somewhat wider than normal (from another's perspective) as he looked at the bandaged pokemon. Her eyes were open slightly, and the pain was evident in them. "Looks like you made it. I'm glad." he said quietly to her, coming down so that they were at about eye level, his hand moving to cup the Dratini's muzzle again so she could tell that he was there again.  
  
Tsai looked up and behind Arik as its ears twitched, and then bounded off the bed and over to the door that led into the ICU. Arik heard the door open, but paid it no heed as he smiled to the little Dratini, who licked at his fingertips once. "Hmm, hungry? Let's see what we can do about that, okay?" he told her, and then as he stood, he knew someone was there beside him. Arik looked over to see Nurse Joy, and he smiled at her as he saw that she had some soft pokemon food on a small plate. "Thanks, Nurse Joy." he said to her, and she smiled as she took one of the small chunks and placed it on her palm before setting it in front of the Dratini.  
  
"Don't push yourself, Dratini. Eat only what you can, okay?" she said sweetly, almost whispering to the pokemon as she motioned for Arik to get outta there with her free hand. He noticed that she was still wearing the nurse's uniform, but her hair wasn't curled again yet. He nodded and walked quietly over to the door, walking outside from it just as he heard the sliding door open in the lobby, and he walked out that way. He smiled politely to the boy who had entered, remembering him from the other day when he'd brought in his pokemon and left his Sandslash to recuperate.  
  
"Ah, welcome back. Ready to see your Sandslash?"" he asked, moving to motion the trainer down the hall to the ICU ward. The trainer grinned before speaking. He looked to be American more than anything else- no really distinct features that would give away his lineage. Blonde hair, brown eyes, about 6ft tall, maybe?  
  
"Yeah, I miss that Sandslash of mine. Toxic attacks are incredibly strong!" he stated, and Arik chuckled softly at that. He might be stating the obvious, especially to someone who had dealt with pokemon suffering from those attacks for quite a while now, but hey, he was also used to people talking about the attack as well.  
  
"Yes, they are, but you should remember that poison types are immune to poison attacks. Try using your poison type pokemon to battle Janine next time." Arik told him, and the trainer nodded in agreement. A tug at Arik's pant leg caught his attention, and he smiled as he saw Tsai there. "Hey you, come on up here buddy." and Arik kneeled down to pick up the little Nidoran. "Done eating now, Tsai? Here, meet the trainer of that Sandslash you saw earlier. This guy's name is Tsai." he said, holding Tsai in his arms as he looked to the trainer. The trainer reached over and scratched Tsai's head gently, smiling a little.  
  
"I've never seen a Nidoran this small before... he must be a newborn, huh?" he asked, to which Arik nodded slightly. "I think so. I caught him in the Safari Zone yesterday, along with a pokemon in the ICU right now. Let's go and get your Sandslash now." Arik replied, and while still carrying Tsai, walked over to the door that led into the ICU ward. Through the large window, they could see that Nurse Joy was still inside, and Arik smiled as she saw her doing something with the Dratini. "Go on in, Nurse Joy can help you if you need anything." he said to the trainer.  
  
The young man walked into the room and to his Sandslash, who had been otherwise motionless all morning. It was up on it's feet now, arms raised as the two hugged. Arik couldn't help but to smile, and Joy did the same as she picked up the bloody bandages that she'd taken off from the Dratini. The trainer looked over and saw the Dratini, and watched it for a moment. Arik walked into the room now, closing the door behind him as he took slow steps over to the Dratini. The sound of running water at the sink told him Nurse Joy was washing her hands now, and as Arik saw his Dratini, he smiled a little bit. "Well now, you look much better than you did yesterday, little one." he says, setting the Nidoran down on the bedside before he moved over to the head of the bed to look over the over 5ft long, serpent-like body that was before him.  
  
"All we need is a Hyper Potion to finish healing her, Arik." Nurse Joy told him, even as he took stock of the injuries. She had cuts all over, including a long one that might remind someone of a cut that would be used to gut a fish. He shivered a little and looked to the Dratini's face, seeing her pain-racked eyes with his own eyes simply made him shiver again. He couldn't help it, he could only guess as to how much pain she must be in at the moment.  
  
"Only one problem with that... the PokeMart here in Fuchsia doesn't sell Hyper Potions, does it?" he asked, and when Nurse Joy nodded at that comment, he sighed. "Damn. And the pokemon center doesn't keep any around, either. It's a long way to Cinnabar, and I don't have any pokemon that can Surf, either. Hm..." and he closed his eyes, trying to think of something he could do to get a Hyper Potion and get it back here fast. Then, Arik blinked, remembering something. "I'll be right back... I might actually have one." he says, and he rushed out of the ICU ward and back to the lobby. Looking around, he didn't see anyone else around, so he walked quickly over to the little PC corner and logged in.  
  
This PC was kept around for the trainers- there used to be more, but since fewer trainers came around these days, the other PCs were sent to other centers around Kanto. At least this one remained, along with the item teleporter, and he pulled up his own item list. It was updated pretty often, actually. His parents kept their own items in with his listings, and with a grin, he found a Hyper Potion. Quickly, he typed in the command to retrieve the healing spray from the PC, and sent an e-mail with details about why he took it to his parents. With a grin on his face as he watched it as it materialized in the transporter, he waited for it to finish. After a few more seconds, the transfer was completed, and he logged out of the PC.  
  
The trainer with the Sandslash was already gone by the time he got to the ICU room, and he smiled a little as he held onto the spray bottle carefully as he walked over to the table. Joy was there already, petting the Dratini to comfort it. They couldn't let her get wet yet, simply because then the spray would be diluted thanks to the water. "Got it... kinda got lucky, there was only one in the PC." he said, even as he cracked the seal and set the spray so that it would cover a small area. Then, with his fingers on the 'trigger' in front of the bottle itself, he gently pressed inwards, the spray came out in a fine mist that soon landed upon the Dratini's body. He sprayed directly onto the wounds, a startled cry escaping the Dratini as it felt the cold, somewhat painful sensation on her wounds. But, the healing spray was certainly working, as he saw the pokemon's scales seem to regenerate immediately and he smiled, emptying the bottle on the Dratini's body. Joy smiled as well, lightly rubbing the pokemon's ear ridges as it shivered against her and the bed.  
  
"Looks like it's working, huh?" he asked, and Nurse Joy nodded, both still smiling as the Dratini fully opened its eyes to look at them. "How are you feeling now, Dratini?" he asked, reaching over to rub the scales on it's back gently. A cry escaped her as she slid over to Arik, lightly entwining his hand in her coils before she licked the back of his hand lightly. "Dra! Ditini! Draaa!" she went, and Joy patted Arik on the back. Tsai nudged up against the Dratini, who turned to look at the horned pokemon and rubbed her head against Tsai's cheek lightly  
  
"I'd say she's alright. It was pretty close when you first brought her in, I should say." Nurse Joy told him, smiling still before scratching the pokemon's back lightly. "She's so light... better be careful with her for a while until she has her strength back, Arik." she said before pointing over to the counter where there was a small stack of papers. "You'll probably want to look through those for some information on your Dratini and Nidoran. Professor Oak left an e-mail earlier, saying that the pokedex should be here later tonight. He's sending it express by Fearow, along with something he called a starter kit. I guess it's a good way for you to begin."  
  
Arik smiled a little, and tried to get his arm out from where his Dratini had wrapped around it- no dice, he thought, as she continued to keep herself around his forearm. "Yeah, I guess so... hey, Joy? Could you transfer information from the park balls to normal pokeballs for me? I think the park will want those back before the end of the week, you know." he asked her, chuckling softly as finally the Dratini got his attention more by Wrapping about his arm and squeezing even more. "Ack... Careful there, Ame." he said to the Dratini, coming up with a name for her on the spot. Joy, Tsai, and the Dratini looked at him in surprise at that word. "Yeah, that's right... I've decided to call you Ame, short for Amethyst." he told the pokemon, who seemed pleased enough about the name, started to squeeze his arm even harder, nearly dragging him to the floor.  
  
"She may not weigh much, but she's obviously pretty strong, Arik. And yes, I'll go and do that now." she said, and headed to where the two pokeballs were set on a counter, taking them out of the ICU ward and towards the counter area. With Joy gone, he looked to his two pokemon and groaned slightly as he felt the pokemon constrict on his arm yet again. "Hey, Ame, stop that. It's starting to hurt... I don't want you to strain yourself." he told her, and she looked sorry as she unravelled from him. Tsai looked as if he was simply going to laugh his little ass off at the way these two were dealing with one another.  
  
"Alright, come on you two. Let's get outta here." he said, and both pokemon got off the bed and headed for the door, with Arik right behind them. He pulled the door open, and with a "Niidor!", both Tsai and Ame hurried towards the lobby. Arik could hear a sharp cry of surprise come from Nurse Joy, and he laughed at about the same time that she did as he came out to the lobby. Tsai was up on the counter and Ame was simply coiled about Joy's legs while she sat behind the counter. The two park balls were having the information copied to the new pokeballs- normal Poke Balls, from the coloration on the new ones. "Hey! Come on guys, leave Nurse Joy to her work now." he told them, and Ame uncoiled herself from the pink haired nurse, who was by now laughing uncontrollably.  
  
"Nurse Joy! What's so funny?" came a voice not from the two of them, and all eyes were drawn to the computer behind the counter. On the screen, unknown to them until now, was Professor Oak's image again. "I hope you received my E-mail earlier, Nurse Joy... oh! Is that the Dratini I see there?" he asked, as Ame moved up to look directly into the camera. Nurse Joy nodded, and then realized that Oak couldn't see her do that with Ame in the way, as she was at the moment.  
  
"Yes, this is Ame, Arik's Dratini, professor. She lasted the night and we managed to get a Hyper Potion to heal the rest of her wounds a little while ago. She seems to be quite alright now, actually." she replied, and Arik grinned a little. Ame moved away from the camera after bumping against it with her muzzle, and she gave a little cry as she slithered back up over the counter to wrap about Arik's chest. "She seems to be pretty energetic, I'd say."  
  
Professor Oak laughed a little at her words and nodded. "Well, has the Fearow arrived yet? Fuchsia isn't that far from Pallet Town, you know. Anyway, I hope Arik will be able to spare Ame for a day or two sometime soon, because I can't wait to start studying her!" Oak said, and Arik chuckled softly afterwards. He somehow knew that he was going to say that. Nurse Joy glanced up to Arik, and then looked back to the camera, shaking her head slowly to reply to Oak's question. "No, huh? Well, I guess that's alright. It should be there soon. The little starter kit I sent to help you both out includes two pokedexes, a dozen pokeballs, and a couple of potions. Those should get you both ready for your journeys, though I must say, I was surprised that you said you wanted to be a trainer too, Nurse Joy." Professor Oak remarked.  
  
Nurse Joy's face went a little red and Arik looked bewildered- she'd never told him that she wanted to be a trainer too! From the look and sound of things, however, she didn't want anyone to know. "Ah... Joy?" he asked, his voice kind of quiet. She glanced at him, her face still red, and then she looked to the floor again quickly, hands in her lap as she clasped them together. On the other end of the line, the Professor had heard his voice and smiled a bit into the camera.  
  
"Oh, is Arik there? Come on into view, please, unless you're busy helping someone?" he said, and Arik obliged by coming around. Unfortunately, the move sort of startled Ame, and he had to pet along Ame's long body softly to calm her down again. "I see that your pokemon have taken a liking to you already. I had heard that dragons are notoriously difficult to tame, but your Ame must be an exception to the rule, hm?" he commented, a little laugh escaping him.  
  
"Maybe... I didn't even know anything about Dratini's until yesterday, professor, so that might be true. She's certainly a little skittish, but like-able. She's friendly towards Nurse Joy and myself, so maybe that is only because we helped her when she was badly hurt." Arik replied to the professor, who nodded in agreement. It was quite probable, the professor knew, that that was likely the case. No matter, really. To study a dragon pokemon found in Kanto... that would be very interesting to him. Very few dragon-type pokemon he had ever seen came from Kanto. Most came from Johto, where a clan of Dragon Trainers resided in Blackthorn City. They even had their own gym and badge, and only very few trainers managed to defeat the woman who was the gym leader there.  
  
"Mm, I see. I updated the pokedex I sent you with the most up-to-date information I have on pokemon, including Dratini, but there's really very little on that particular subject. I could tell from when I saw your Nidoran that he is a newborn. I put in some information on raising young pokemon as well, so be sure to read up on that. Finally, if you have any questions about pokemon, about where things are, etc, the pokedexes I'm sending both you and Nurse Joy both have several other functions- Trainer ID, a Kanto Map, and an AM/FM radio adapter. If you have the radio playing, you cannot use any of the other features though." the professor went on, and Arik nodded slightly before being pushed aside as Nurse Joy got out of her chair and ran off.  
  
"What the... um, professor, thank you, for both myself and for Nurse Joy. I think I should go see if she is alright, so we'll have to talk again another time, alright?" he asked, and when Professor Oak nodded and hung up, he did the same. "Tsai, follow her!" he said, and he walked after Joy, wondering just what had happened there as he continued to pet Ame. "Nurse Joy?" he called out, walking down the hallway- he hadn't had the chance to see which hallway she had disappeared down, but he was pretty certain he knew where she was. Each pokemon center had a bedroom for the Nurse Joys who operated them, and he smiled a little as he came to the door to her room- there was a red light near the lock, which told him that it was locked and without the correct numerical password for the key pad lock, there was no way for him to get in.  
  
"Nurse Joy... why didn't you ever tell me you wanted to be a pokemon trainer? It's not that big a deal, is it?" he asked through the door. Tsai was at his feet, lightly scratching at the door with his horn at the same time. Ame made a small cry, though likely it would travel through the door to reach her ears. "Ditini! Draaaa!" Arik smiled a little, and sighed softly. "I thought, at times, that you weren't satisfied just by healing pokemon, Joy. You always went out more than most of the other Nurse Joys I've met. You make more friends. You even hired me on here, for some reason. Come on boss, talk to me. You don't always have to be alone, you know." he said, talking to her, even with the door in the way. He stepped back a little and leaned against the wall behind him, touching it with his shoulders as he watched her door.  
  
It took about two minutes before the red light turned green, and the door was opened as Joy came out. Trails of moisture glistened down her cheek, and her outfit was lightly stained darker by her tears as they dripped from her chin. Arik smiled softly to her, and Ame slithered from around Arik's body as Joy came over to him, closing her eyes as she hugged her friend tightly. Her body seemed to shake as the tears wouldn't stop flowing from her eyes, and Arik hugged her gently at first, and then more firmly, letting her get everything off her chest as she obviously needed to. "Shh... it's okay, Joy." he told her, whispering into her ear as he felt his own shirt become wet with her tears as she cried.  
  
"I always wanted to be a trainer... not a... not a nurse, Arik!" she said, her voice muffled against his chest as she spoke between sobs. "I want to... wanna... travel with... with pokemon. I don't wanna just... stay in one... one place, forever!" she said, sobbing still as she hugged Arik tighter. He could tell she was getting everything out now, that this must be hard as hell for her to say. Ame and Tsai were quiet as they watched this go on, and Arik just held the pink-haired girl against him softly, letting her say what she obviously need to.  
  
"Arik... You're a good friend." she says, sniffling a little before slipping away, her hands rising to wipe away her tears from her cheeks. "Oops... looks like I made a little mess on your shirt." she says, her face pretty red and flushed as a result of her crying. Arik shook his head a little and hugged her again softly. He hadn't really realized how much she needed a friend before, and had no idea that she was so insecure. She always seemed completely together, almost every day that they worked together. Who could have known that she was really sad about how she had wound up, up until now?  
  
"Don't worry about it, Joy... but if you're going to be going on a pokemon journey, you had better let your family know, so that another Joy can be sent here to run the center. Not to mention that this way, they won't need to worry about you, too." he tells her, smiling as he looked her in the eyes before releasing her from his hold on her. She sniffled once more before smiling again, her arms leaving from around his body now as she stepped out from the hug that they had been sharing.  
  
A few hours later, preparations were being made. For the first time since he had arrived back at the center with Ame, Arik's pokemon had been returned to their new pokeballs. His backpack was getting stuffed with as much as he could carry: a small cage-like protrusion underneath the pack had room for a sleeping bag there. Inside, a few small things- The center pocket of the front of the backpack became a place for 'utility' tools- a flat blade screwdriver, a small container hold a knife, fork, and spoon. A umbrella hung along the side, held fast by a bungee cord. The main part of the pack became the storage area. Two notebooks and an air-tight container for mechanical pencils, lead, and erasers took up very little room.  
  
Much of the rest of that area became room for food- a trip to the grocery store produced quite a bit of food, but unfortunately for them, neither had specialized in cooking in the wild. A medium-sized frying pan was hanging on the other side of the pack, held up with a bungee cord as well. Still, he packed canned foods, some bread in a tupperware container so it wouldn't get squashed, and a small refrigeration device provided a place for a few bottles of water, soda, and milk. An even smaller, yet sturdier area of that device allowed for half a dozen eggs to sit within without worry of breaking the eggs inside. A 'whisk' was also set into the refrigeration device, something he'd need if he was to cook eggs. Finally, a dozen large packs of pokemon food (generic, unfortunately) was stuffed inside as well. A small recipe book found its way into the pack as well, and then the zipping of the backpack was finished. It looked about twice as large as it should be, but because it was a high-quality backpack made for trainers, it wasn't about to snap, break, or rip. In the side pouches (one on each side of the pack), he filled with potions, antidotes, and a few Full Heal items for use with his pokemon.  
  
Nurse Joy was on the phone still, he could hear, as he walked back from the bunk room he had been packing in. He pulled his jacket on, before slipping the backpack on completely, the frying pan swaying slightly against his back and backpack. On his jacket, his two pokemon hung in their pokeballs. He had a satchel on his right side, looped around his belt to keep it in place there. In here, he put in the few pokeballs he had managed to purchase from the PokeMart- four of them. They'd have to do until the Fearow arrived, he thought, and he smiled as he looked over to Nurse Joy as he neared the counter. She looked like she was crying again, and so he didn't bother getting any closer- he didn't want to make things worse or anything. She glanced up at Arik and smiled gratefully to him, then went back to talking with her family again.  
  
He walked to the sliding door, and when it slid open, Arik walked outside, looking up to the sky. It was still pretty overcast, with clouds overhead, when he blinked and looked around slowly. His eyes narrowed as he looked about slowly, wondering what it was he sensed out here. Then, it happened, and he narrowly slipped away from the soft 'whish' sound that struck past his head. The sound came twice more in rapid succession, and when he looked to where each object made a 'thunk' sound in the pokemon center's wall beside him, he saw a total of three shurikens there. With a smirk, Arik looked towards the person who was now visibly walking towards the pokemon center.  
  
"Well now, Janine, there wasn't a need to do that... I'm not about to challenge you to a gym battle, after all." he said, teasing the gym leader who was headed his way. Her raven-black hair streamed back behind her, held together by a tie about 3/4 the way down the length of it. She just assumed a cocky grin as she came up idly, walking slowly as if she had done nothing at all. Her rather dark purple cape flowed behind her in the wind that had been blowing since before he had stepped outside. Her black and purple-lined kimono hugged to her body tightly, much like the outfit her father wore when he was gym leader a few years back.  
  
"Perhaps not, but I do need to test your reflexes once in a while. One never knows when another makes progress until that person is tested." she replied, a somewhat cryptic remark given in response to his own much more direct comment. "After all, it seems to me that you've finally become an actual pokemon trainer, and not some flunky to the Pokemon Center. I was disappointed when you didn't become a pokemon trainer a few years back, remember?" she said, and he shrugged a little. She had been a bit of a rival in school before she became a pokemon trainer, and now she was already a gym leader. "And you have two pokemon already? Must be a Pidgey and a Rattata." she said, laughing haughtily as she passed by him, their shoulders brushing against one another's before she was past. She stopped to pull out her shuriken from the wall of the pokemon center, even as he turned to watch her.  
  
"Oh, I wouldn't quite say that, Janine... though I wouldn't mind those pokemon in the slightest. Each pokemon has their own strengths, after all." he replied, grinning again as he heard her laughter stop as she stepped inside, turning to face him once more. She looked him over critically, unaware that Nurse Joy had been about to say something to her before she had opened her mouth to speak with Arik again. She still had that smug look on her face- Arik wanted nothing more than to knock that particular look off of her face.  
  
"Well then, why do you not challenge me to a gym battle, eh, Arik? You know you'll just be defeated by my sinister techniques." she tells him, and to that Arik laughed, walking into the pokemon center after her. The door closed behind him as he stepped away from the doorway, and he watched her warily. He was sorely tempted, but with a young Nidoran and a recovering Dratini, he knew when he was outclassed and overpowered.  
  
"Because one of my pokemon was badly hurt at the Safari Zone before I managed to catch it, and it is recovering right now. And, the other is a bit young to battle right now." he replied, admitting that he had only managed to catch them recently (as in yesterday). She figured that much out pretty quickly, and shrugged slightly. She looked at him with contempt now, as he stood there. She hadn't been defeated in a gym battle for a while now, and obviously she was a bit more hard-headed and annoying than she had been for quite some time.  
  
"Fine, hide behind your excuses, but I expect you to come and battle for a badge with me sometime, Arik. I cannot wait to defeat you in a battle, old friend." and she grinned as she said that, spinning on her heels before walking over towards the counter that Joy was standing behind, smiling benignly to the gym leader. If there was anyone Janine was intimidated by, it was Nurse Joy- simply because she had defeated Janine once when she had first begun training pokemon. Nurse Joy had used the Chansey and Janine, a Beedrill. By the time Chansey had finished with Beedrill... it wasn't a very pretty sight.  
  
"Why do you need to torment him, Janine, hm?" was what the cold, sweet voice that came from Nurse Joy asked the local gym leader. Janine, for her part, suddenly backed up slightly in surprise at the coldness that could be detected by anyone who heard the nurse. Never before had she used such a tone of voice to anyone, but obviously, something had changed within the good nurse recently. Janine took about 20 seconds to compose herself again, the time seemingly forever in that short moment before she cleared her throat and actually spoke again.  
  
"Why? Because we were supposed to get our pokemon at the same time, but the fool got sick. We've always wanted to battle each other since school. It's his fault that we haven't battled yet, and even now that he has pokemon, he won't battle me. He deserves this treatment!" Janine said, defending herself as she glanced back at Arik with a glare that could freeze an Articuno. He shivered slightly, part in shock and part in anger as he watched the ninja girl as she looked back to Nurse Joy. His fault that he'd gotten sick? How was that possibly his fault at all?  
  
Then Nurse Joy gave a mischievious giggle as a thought came to her. Then she laughed out loud softly, and both Arik and Janine couldn't help but to walk over to see if she was alright... not to mention, to find out why she was laughing now. "I... I should've guessed it! You like him!" she cried out, and then she laughed harder. One arm slid across her stomach- she was laughing that hard. Arik, for his part, simply raised an eyebrow before shaking his head and laughing as well.  
  
Janine, on the other hand, had a very red face and a look that held visible anger and embarassment. Quickly, she set two pokeballs on the counter and turned around, walking towards the door with what little dignity Nurse Joy had left her with. "Please heal those pokemon... I'll be back in a while to pick them up." she said aloud, sternly, before she looked back to the two laughing people in the pokemon center with her.  
  
"I never would've guessed!" Arik exclaimed, a grin crossing his face as he watched Janine's reaction. His own arms were wrapped around his stomach, the heavy pack on his back shuffling up and down in time with his shoulders as he laughed with vigor renewed, Joy's laughter doubling again as they both held their stomachs gently, their bodies shaking that hard as they saw Janine's reaction. Her hair seemed to be sticking up and her entire body was shaking- not to mention red in anger and embarassment. After a few seconds, she reached to her belt and pulled out a pellet, throwing it at the floor and it exploded upon impact, a cloud of smoke exploding into view as she left.  
  
When the smoke cleared as per a ninja's style, of course, she was gone. Joy and Arik, however, were still laughing their asses off.  
  
Janine had wandered back to her gym after the little encounter, and was now in her private room. She had been replaying that scene for a while now, and finally just sighed. After receiving the chance to test for becoming a Gym Leader and passing with flying colors, defeating her own father for the right to take his place, she had felt herself become distant from her one-time friends. Arik had figured prominently in her childhood- they'd been good friends back then, a friendly rivalry had developed as they neared the age of becoming pokemon trainers. In fact, they were scheduled to receive their pokemon on the same day!  
  
But no, instead of having a battle as they had planned as that fateful day drew closer, he had never shown up. Despite having a good reason as to why he hadn't arrived, she grew resentful, and soon most all ties between them had simply died, save for their rivalry. Janine was hurt that he had never become a trainer, and had remained that way until today. Today, she had seen her one-time friend with a pair of pokeballs and a large pack on his back. That in itself had made her happy enough to get his attention.  
  
He had spent a lot of time at the gym, back when Koga had led it. She had been training there and had been the one to find Arik when he snuck in somehow to see what the gym was all about. They quickly became friends, even though the Weedle she had at the time immediately tied him up with String Shot. After that, he'd been dragged into the gym after a little talk between them, and taken before Koga. Since he hadn't a pokemon and wasn't, in the slightest, a trainer yet, he'd been set to work cleaning the entire mansion that was used as their training ground. Janine's father had been surprised at his apparent skill in entering the gym undetected- even in those days, much of the place was monitored by video cameras. He never had managed to figure out how Arik had done it.  
  
Janine grinned- so, he was a pokemon trainer now. "About damn time." she mused, speaking aloud to herself as she looked to the ceiling. He had two pokemon, and she had no idea what they were. As it should be, she knew, from experience. Very few who had come to the gym these days provided her a challenge, and none since the first match had managed to defeat her. She just laughed, remembering her poor showing in her first match as gym leader- She hadn't been able to defeat her opponent's Alakazam. Damned psychics from Saffron City, she thought, as she shook her head again.  
  
"Ah well. I wonder when he'll be back to challenge me?" she muttered, to herself again. Then, there was a knock on her door, and she stood up from the bed she was sitting on, and walked over to the door. "Yes?" she asked, opening the door. One of the trainers who didn't wear clothing to pretend to be her was standing at the door, on his knees with one fist placed against the floor. Janine didn't care too much for that stance, but it had been tradition in this gym for as long as she could remember. She wasn't about to change it yet, after all. Ninja tradition was something that was difficult to change, if not impossible.  
  
"We have a challenger for you, Janine. She's defeated your highest trainers already and is prepared to challenge you." he informed her, and she smiled slightly. A female trainer had come in and defeated the gym's best trainers already? Janine had heard when a trainer had entered to challenge her, but it was also tradition for the trainer to defeat the two best trainers in the gym before facing the gym leader. Once the trainer had qualified, and made it through the invisible wall maze, they were permitted to formally request a match, which had been done, and had taken less than an hour for her to do.  
  
"I see. I shall be right out, then." she replied. Janine had sent a junior trainer of the gym to the pokemon center to retreive her pokemon, but he had not returned yet. So, she grabbed her strongest pokemon- a Koffing, a Golbat, and a Muk. They weren't as powerful as the ones that she had wanted to use against in a battle, but maybe this way she'd have the challenge she'd been craving. The trainer nodded and then seemed to vanish, leaving to inform the trainer wanting to challenge her. "Dammit Arik, get your ass this way and battle me. We've got a score to settle!" she seemed to yell in her mind, although she didn't say anything out loud again. With a mental sigh, she trudged off to the arena to get the battle over and done with.  
  
"FEEEE-AA-OOW!" was heard as the flapping of large wings kicked up a lot of dust outside the pokemon center. Inside, Arik was relaxing, checking his supplies: half a dozen Potions, two Super Potions, half a dozen Antidotes and two Full Heals. In the other pouch were 4 spare pokeballs, and 2 Great Balls. He couldn't afford anything much better at this point, without dipping into his reserves. He'd given Joy about half his stock as well, so she could start out as well as he was doing. Joy, on the other hand, was packing things up in her room, so when that loud, nearly ear-piercing cry came from outside, it was Arik who came out from the Pokemon Center and walked over to the Fearow.  
  
"Well now, you must be the Fearow that Professor Oak was talking about, huh?" he called to it, and the Fearow walked over to him on the ground. It was a gangly thing, a very long neck and a beak that looked like it could simply go through glass. It gave a little cry and seemed to nod, turning around to show the pack that was on it's back. An ingenious device, Arik thought, as he saw the way that the professor had hooked everything in on that 'backpack'. He walked over and took out everything from the pack- pokedexes, pokeballs, and a booklet of pokemon information. He leafed through the book idly, not really looking inside before he looked over to the Fearow and smiled again.  
  
"Go on back now, and thanks for making the trip, Fearow!" he told the pokemon, and it cried out before unfurling it's wings and began to flap. Arik had to sling an arm around his face to keep the dust out of his face as it took off, and coughed as the dust settled down. "Hoo-boy, gotta get outta the way next time... plah!" he muttered, coughing again as he got the dust out of his mouth and headed back into the pokemon center. When he entered, he yelled out to Joy. "Hey Joy, the stuff Professor Oak sent is here!" he cried, even as he walked over to the counter, dividing things up. Half a dozen pokeballs for them both, a pokedex for both, and another two potions for each of them to set away.  
  
"Okay, I'll be out in a minute!" she yelled back, and Arik grinned. She was definitely cute before, but now that she was getting ready to do something that she'd wanted to do for years now, she seemed to be feeling infinitely better and more confident already. She'd never yelled before, or at least, he'd never heard her yell while he was around. He picked up the pokedex and pressed the button on the side. It was a horizontal-based device, not much at all like a cell phone in the slightest. If he had to guess, it was much more like one of those old portable video game systems. One portion flipped up, unlike his old pokedex, which was one of those vertical ones that flipped to the side for all the information to be displayed on the screen.  
  
The part that flipped up held the screen. The part that slid out, to the left, was a small disc player- a mini-disc player, one that couldn't play music CD's but informational ones, specially configured for the pokedex. It had it's own hard drive filled with pokemon information, the town map, and more. With the mini-disc player there, it can be upgraded easily, as well as read information kept on the CD's. He grinned a little, pushing the drive back in firmly before noticing that it was prompting him for his information. Arik had been setting in his information with the small, cell phone-like 'keyboard' when Joy had come back out from her room in the back.  
  
"Heya Arik. Is that everything?" she asked, and he turned around to face her- and was floored by what he saw her wearing. His jaw dropped somewhat as he saw her wearing a pair of jeans and a black shirt that wasn't very revealing, but did reveal her curves enough to be distracting, to say the least. It took what seemed to be a few minutes (but was only about 15 seconds) before he managed to pick up his nerves again and for his face to flush. Joy just smiled and spun in place before clapping her hands together, bending slightly to look at him with a look of mischief in her eyes. "Well?"  
  
Arik was still blushing when he looked down to the floor. "Um... yeah..." he said quietly. She was acting so goddamned cute! Her outfit didn't help much. She was more of a flirt than he'd ever seen her, and there was a glint in her eyes that he couldn't remember ever seeing there before. Her smile had never seemed, so... well, she'd just never looked so happy before, ever since he'd met her. "You'll need to put your information into your pokedex, and you can have half a dozen of the pokeballs that're on the counter." he told her, finishing putting his information into the pokedex. He pressed the enter button, and his information was saved. The ID was completed, as his picture was already set into Trainer ID program.  
  
"Oh... well, alright then. Thanks, Arik." was Joy's reply, and she turned to get her things done, even as Arik grabbed the miniaturized pokeballs and set four in his pocket, and the other two in his now heavy and quite large pack. He knew the rules- you could only have half a dozen pokemon with you at one time. Arik had two, and could carry only four more with him without sending any more to a research lab via the PC system. He smiled a little, looking back to Joy, when he heard the little musical tone that signified that pokemon were finished being healed. Just as he turned to go behind the counter to get the pokeballs, one of the trainers from the gym arrived, the sliding door opening and he appeared. Arik turned and nodded to the trainer, knowing what he had come for.  
  
"Just a sec." he said, Joy looking over to the trainer and smiling as she finished up with the pokedex information. Arik walked over and took the pokeballs from the tray, three of them, and then threw 'em over to the trainer. The trainer caught all three, one after the other, and nodded, disappearing from the center quickly without a word. Arik shook his head as the sliding door closed up after the trainer left, and then looked over to Joy again, who was now looking at him. "So, will you be waiting for someone from your family to arrive before you leave, Joy? And what pokemon will you be taking with you?"  
  
"Well, I'm taking Chansey, of course. And yeah, I have to wait until my cousin Joy arrives. She's coming here on a Pidgeot from Lavender Town, and she should be here within a few more hours, I think." was her reply, and she smiled softly, happy beyond anything she had been for a very long time. It was evident in her manner now, anyone could see it plainly. Arik couldn't help but to smile brightly to her and nod in acknowledgment, wondering why she hadn't taken the plunge before today to just get out on her own.  
  
"I see. Well, I'm thinking about heading to Route 15 to start training my pokemon out there, maybe get a head start on everything. How about if you come on out that way when you're ready?" he asks, winking to her playfully as he walks towards the door now. He stopped at the chair that his pack was sitting on, and pulled on the straps, slipping it onto his back before he looked back over to her. He was wearing his jacket again, and he smiled once more as he saw her watching him as he waited there.  
  
"I guess I could, but I was thinking about heading along Cycling Road on my bike and go to Celadon City." she replied, seeming a little disappointed about their different directions that they had in mind. Arik nodded slightly at her words, a little disappointed as well, but he had a feeling that they'd have to go their seperate ways eventually. Definitely, he would have enjoyed having her around along the trip, but at least this way he could simply do things on his own for a while, get used to being independant.  
  
"Alright... I would have gone that route, but you know... I don't have a bike anymore. My last one was the recipient of a Weepinbell's Acid attack a year ago. Remember that battle outside the center then?" he replies, chuckling softly. Joy nodded, remembering that little incident, and sighed softly. She'd seen the whole thing, trying to stop the battling before anything happened (as it obviously had). He, on the other hand, had been busy with trainers inside the pokemon center. The Acid attack had been dodged by the Spearow that it had targeted, and the blob landed directly onto the middle of the bike. The crossbars had melted through, the wheels destroyed by some of the spray, and the handle bars had molded into a useless shape of what was once actual 'material'. The bike was a write-off, and Arik had never been reimbursed for the bike.  
  
"Ah well... I hope that you have luck, Joy, and we meet up again on the road soon." he says, walking back over to her, arms spread wide before moving about her, holding the previous nurse in his arms as he hugs her gently to him. He closes his eyes as he feels her arms around him, and he smiled a little, hugging her a little more firmly before he opened his eyes and let her go. "You're my best friend, Joy. Take care of yourself, alright?" he told her, whispering into her ear as he feels her arms loosen from around his waist and he stepped back a little bit. She was smiling softly, watching him, and nodded to him, her eyes glancing to the floor before she looked back to him once more.  
  
"Yeah, you too, Arik. I hope you and your pokemon stay safe." she says, smiling still as she just stood there, as if wanting to say something to him but it just couldn't get spoken out loud. With a nod, Arik smiled still as he walked towards the door now, glancing back to his best friend one last time. He probably wouldn't see her for a while, but he remembered that he could still e-mail her from other pokemon centers when possible. That would be a good way to keep in touch.  
  
"I'll e-mail you, Joy, when I get to a new pokemon center. Alright?" he asks, the sliding door sensor catching him in it's sight and it opened behind him as he stood there. She nodded, and he nodded once in return to her before stepping out from the pokemon center. Free from work and too many worries, he headed east along the street, jumping the low fence carefully, not wanting to jostle everything he had in the pack too much. He sighs softly, one hand rising to pat the pokeballs that were fastened to the front of his jacket, and he smiled a little. First time, really, on his own completely. He felt he was ready- he hoped that he really was, but he'd miss Joy.  
  
His steps took him further down along the street- the pokemon center was soon out of sight, and he was coming up to the guardhouse for the pokemon trainers who go in and out of the city. He passed through, surprising Officer Jenny as he waved to her when he walked past, and just grinned as he walked out the door and onto Route 15. It was bright out today, and there were few clouds in the sky. A flock of Pidgey flew overhead in the distance, and Arik took a deep breath as he headed towards the forest in the north. It took him half an hour to walk that far, but soon after, with his first step into the woods, he could already tell that he felt better now about his leaving Fuchsia City than he had in a long time about much of anything.  
  
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Author's Note: Expect one of these before and after each chapter. Comments would be very appreciated. I just had a friend over and he took one look at this fic, realized it was Pokemon, and he couldn't believe I actually wrote a fanfic based on it. Keep in mind I only suggest the games, never the anime, to anyone. The only good seasons are the first two or so that were based on the original Red and Blue games (and even then, it was extremely cheesy). Orange Islands were really bad. Johto, not that bad, but Hoenn is probably the biggest pile of feces I've ever seen outside of certain other anime. Ew. Suggestions are welcome as well, e-mail them to me, though, at 


	3. Chapter 3

First Journey Chapter 3  
  
by MacrossGreen  
  
Author's Note: I'd like to thank the two who took the time to look over the last two chapters and write comments on them. Antithesis, your comments are appreciated, as are the comments from the other person who reviewed the last two chapters (I'm sorry, I'm not at an internet-capable machine at the moment, as I don't actually have a phone-line in my apartment right now. So, I can't remember the name too well). I had this chapter finished before I saw your reviews, but I've made a few changes since then to reflect 'reality' a bit better. I'll admit, as well, that I'm not entirely sure where I'm taking this- coming of age story, definitely, but I think I'll also try and insert a bit more of a plot into the story than just that. If you like this series, try the 'Terra' trilogy (Back to Terra, Rescue on Terra, Battle for Terra) that I have on here as well, and see if you like those, too, if you have ever played Mega Man Legends.  
  
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Arik had been walking for a few hours without much chance to catch any pokemon since leaving Fuchsia City. In fact, the only pokemon he had seen since leaving was a Spearow, which had promptly flown away as soon as they had locked eyes. It was getting dark now, as he came across a small stream, and he shrugged as he sets his pack down. With night coming, and without a flashlight (he thought he'd forgotten something- unfortunately, he was right about it), he knew it was time to rest for the night. He could hear the calls of Pidgey and Spearow in the distance as they seemed to sing a goodnight to the sun, even while he broke out his supplies. He unraveled the sleeping bag and set it out for use a little later, and then broke out two small bowls that he had secured alongside the frying pan.  
  
He started to dig out the can opener and one of the cans of pokemon food, and cut open the top of it. Arik poured out roughly half the can into each bowl, and then put the can into a sack at in his backpack, so he wasn't littering. Then, with a grin, he reached up to the two pokeballs on his jacket and pulled them off of it, holding them up with the indicators out. "Dinner time! Come on out, Ame and Tsai!" he said aloud, and the pokeballs opened, the red beams coming forth from the bottom half of the pokeballs to make the Nidoran and Dratini materialize in front of him. They both gave a cry as they seemed to stretch afterwards, and then Tsai looked behind him to see Arik. "Nii!" it cried again, and then blinked, sniffing the air.  
  
Ame did the same, and then both pokemon looked to the bowls with their food in them. They looked at each other, almost seeming to smile, before darting over to eat. Arik just laughed a little bit and grinned as he watched the two eat- he'd have to watch them, see how much they ate, so he could know just how much to feed them. He knew that a Nidoran didn't eat much, but a Dratini he didn't know about. Their eating habits would be interesting to see, he thought to himself, as he got into his own food. He'd packed a few granola bars (chocolate chip, of course) in his pack, and he grabbed one out to enjoy as he watched his pokemon eat.  
  
It only took five minutes before they were done, and then Ame seemed to yawn as it moved over to the sleeping bag, resting on top of it as it coiled up. Tsai, on the other hand moved over to eat the remnants of Ame's meal, and Arik had to stop the little Nidoran. He stood up and walked over, but by the time he got there, Nidoran had finished with the last of the food. With a chuckle, Arik knelt down and rubbed Tsai's ears gently. "Now, we'll have to do something about that appetite, I think." he told the little Nidoran, even as Nidoran shook itself. It was starting to get cold, actually, and Arik shivered slightly before going back over to the sleeping bag. "Don't wander far, you two. Let's get some sleep. We'll start actually training tomorrow." he told them, and he slipped into the sleeping bag with Ame still laying on top of it.  
  
Tsai looked a little surprised as he saw his trainer crawl into the bag, and walked over quietly. Ame was already asleep by the time Arik had crawled in, and Tsai gave a sleepy "Niiidaaarn" before coming up alongside the bag as well, settling down there. Soon, both pokemon were fast asleep, and Arik was still wide awake, looking up towards the nearly-blocked out sky overhead. He closed his eyes after a while, listening now to the few sounds that he could hear- his pokemon's breathing, mostly. Some rustling in the bushes, and the sound of running water nearby at the stream. Within a few more minutes, his breathing slowed and and conciousness was washed away a he fell asleep as well.  
  
Arik woke in the morning to a bright and sunny day- but mostly, to some splashing taking place in the stream. Some drops of water had hit his face, causing him to stir, and then the light of the sun just seemed to zero-in on his face, forcing him awake. With a yawn, he brought a hand to his eyes and rubbed them before opening his eyes slowly to see what was going on. The familiar cries of his Dratini and Nidoran he could hear, and he grinned as soon as he could see well enough to see what they were doing. Obviously, the two were playing and roughhousing in the stream, with Ame getting the upper hand over Tsai easily. He laughed softly, watching the two pokemon play, before he noticed that there were a few apple cores on the ground not too far away. "So you two already ate, huh?" he asked 'em, but they didn't pay him any attention as they kept playing.  
  
With a grin, Arik just looked around slowly as he crawled out of the sleeping bag and started rolling it up. They had a long way to go, since they hadn't gone all that far last night, and as a result were still rather close to Fuchsia City. He chuckled softly, putting the sleeping bag away before pulling out his pokedex to see just how far away from Lavender they really are. Opening the pokedex, he sighed softly as he saw the length of the routes he'd be going on just to get up that way. "Routes 15, 14, 13, and 12... This could take a while." he muttered, shrugging as he collapsed the pokedex and stuffed it into the jacket's inside pocket.  
  
Arik looked over to the stream as he heard the splashing around die down, and he blinked as he saw the two just drying off a bit in the sun. He smiled and took out their pokeballs again, pointing the button-like indicators on the 'front of the pokeballs at the two. "Return!" he said, and the command took effect as the pokeballs' red beams drew the pokemon back into their respective pokeball. With a grin, he picked up his backpack and hefted onto his back before heading east now, through the forest. He had a feeling he'd be able to train his pokemon today, though he suspected that he'd have to read up on information regarding his Dratini before training it too much.  
  
And behold, it wasn't even an hour into his walk before he happened across another trainer! The trainer was relaxing, wearing some sort of fighter's 'Gi'- a loose robe about the torso and baggy white pants. He seemed to be going barefoot, too. With a chuckle, Arik walked around the trainer as he rested on a rock, only to hear the guy say, "Hey, hold up! Let's have us a battle!" Arik hadn't wanted to have a battle yet but the trainer's code tells every trainer that a challenge should be met unless there are mitigating circumstances. The trainer threw a pokeball, and out came a Machop from it, cutting off Arik's direction of walking.  
  
With a sigh, he turned to the trainer and nodded to him in response to the challenge before taking his top-most pokeball from his jacket and threw it. "Come on out, Tsai!" he called, smiling slightly. He knew that Tsai had an attack that could deal with a Machop... if he was lucky, that is. His Nidoran appeared, and the Black Belt came up to stand behind his pokemon as he grinned upon seeing the size of the Nidoran that Arik had. Arik just waited to see what the trainer would do first.  
  
"Machop, use Low Kick on his Nidoran!" the man said, and the Machop was off as soon as the attack was named. It swept forward with its left leg as it attacked, it's gray and heavily muscled body heaving it's weight and strength at the small, purple pokemon that Arik had waited in order to tell it to do something. The look in Tsai's eyes was one of strain, as if doubting he'd be able to escape the attack.  
  
Arik, on the other hand, knew a few tricks, even if he was only a beginning trainer. "Tsai, jump over the kick and use Peck!" he called out. Tsai reacted immediately, jumping up and towards the Machop with it's head down and its horn pointing at it. The kick missed but Tsai's horn made impact against the Machop's tough body, causing it to stagger back as a result. A red welt appeared on the Machop's hide where the horn had impacted, and Machop's breathing became a bit more ragged. Tsai landed on the ground after the attack, not breathing hard at all. Getting into the groove, perhaps.  
  
"Alright, Machop... Karate Chop!" the trainer yelled out, and Arik winced, knowing that if that hit, Tsai could get badly hurt. Arik wasn't sure what he could do to counter it, but then remembered an attack he'd seen Nidorans use before. He smiled, hoping that Nidoran could use that attack at Tsai's age, even as he prepared to issue the order. He waited for the right moment, letting the Machop's hand slam forward before telling Tsai what to do.  
  
"Tsai, use Leer to stop it!" he yelled out, and with a "Niii!", Tsai's eyes glowed a bright yellow as it stared down the Machop as it swung it's hand. Startled at the sudden change in the Nidoran's demeanor, the Machop's hand slowed in its attack, and then it struck Tsai anyway, batting the Nidoran away a few feet before Tsai's paws managed to halt its movement. "Tsai, use Peck again!" Arik called out again, and Tsai charged the Machop once more, horn outwards as the Machop was slow to move again.  
  
The Machop went flying after the charging attack of Tsai's Peck attack. Tsai was breathing hard, hurting obviously, as it waited for the Machop to land. As did Arik, but the trainer of the Machop wasn't waiting. "Shrug it off, Machop! Get on your feet!" he yelled out, even as the pokemon came down for a rough landing on its back. A rather loud thud came from the Machop as it landed, and it's eyes closed as the pokemon's body went limp. With a grin, Arik called out for Tsai to come on back, pulling out a potion to heal the small pokemon up, after that Karate Chop had connected. "Good work, Tsai." he told him, spraying the potion on Tsai's side carefully, making sure it actually covered the bruised part of the pokemon's back before looking over to the trainer.  
  
He'd recalled his pokemon and came over to where Arik and Tsai were, smiling as he saw that the pokemon was alright. "Well, I'm glad your pokemon isn't badly hurt. I'm Greg, what's your name?" he asked. The rather muscled man was about twice Arik's size, but at least seemed like a nice guy. "Sorry, I should've introduced myself and set the rules before we battled." he said as well. Well now, Arik thought. Maybe battling other trainers will be alright. His hands were busy, one rubbing behind Tsai's ears as the pokemon rubbed back against his hand, his other hand dealign with the now empty potion bottle.  
  
"My name's Arik. You almost had us there, I'd say." he replied, chuckling softly before using his hand to draw the pokeball out. "Return!" and Tsai returned to the pokeball. "I got lucky, really. Fighting type pokemon just aren't that good against poison types like my Nidoran, after all." he said, grinning a little as he stood up, only to find that Greg had in his hand, outstretched to Arik, about $20.00. "Um... what's with the money?" he asked, not knowing that if you lose a match outside of a tournament, the winner receives half the money that the loser has on him or her.  
  
"Well, Arik, you must be kinda new to being a trainer. When someone loses a match, they have to give up some money to the winner. Keep your money in the bank, if you're smart, so that if you lose a match out here, you won't lose too much." Greg informed him. Arik nodded- glad he'd left about 3/4 of his remaining money in the bank now, as he smiled slightly. "And since I do just that, this is what you get. Twenty dollars. Unless you'd rather not take my money, that is. I wouldn't have any problems with that."  
  
Arik laughed and so did Greg, though Greg also set the bill into Arik's hand. "It was a good match. Thank you, Greg." he said now, pulling out his wallet to put the money inside. This money would buy quite a few supplies, he knew, and he couldn't wait. Greg just nodded before bowing to Arik and then headed back to where he'd been resting on the large rock. With a shrug, Arik nodded back, and then walked off into the forest again. A basic match, he felt, though he knew that it was all luck that Tsai had managed to defeat that Machop so quickly. Even if the Nidoran had a type advantage over the Machop, it was luck that dealt most of the damage that allowed Tsai to win.  
  
It was a few hours later when Arik decided to take a break again. Unfortunately, the place he decided to take a break in was in a small clearing in which he had the sneaking suspicion that something else was here, he just couldn't figure out where, or what. But, as he came into the clearing, a dust in the air quickly got his attention and he got out of the way as the wind came up and blew it the other direction before it got too close to him. "Yeesh... Stun Spore!" he muttered, and then he took out his pokedex, turning on the search feature as he pointed it towards the ground, slowly moving the sensored top portion of the pokedex around carefully so it could lock onto a pokemon that might possibly be using it.  
  
He knew Butterfree weren't in the area- they never were. Only grass and bug pokemon other than Butterfree or possibly Venomoth would use that particular attack when threatened. Finally, the pokedex came up with a match. "Oddish." the speaker came up with, and he looked to where the pokedex was pointing towards. He saw its leaves poking out of the ground, and he nodded slightly, remembering that Oddish was a nocturnal pokemon. What was worse, is that they often spread their own powder (often Stun Spore) out at night, before going to sleep for the day, to keep trainers and other pokemon away and out of their territory. "Fine... we go around, then." he says to himself, going through the forest again, just continuing on. Eventually he'd wind up along Route 14, where there really wasn't any forests about since it was close to the ocean.  
  
But before another 10 minutes passed, there was a small problem- Arik was under attack! A gust of sand flew into his face from someplace, and as he ducked out of the way, behind a tree, he realized that only one certain family of pokemon would use sand like this, to keep intruders away. And when he looked around, he saw it- a Pidgey. With a small grin, he grabbed one of his pokeballs from his jacket and threw it towards the Pidgey. Out came Ame, who gave a small cry before looking up to the startled Pidgey. "Ame, Wrap attack!" he told his Dratini, and with a "Tiniii!", Ame leapt up and managed to catch the small bird in its coils, wrapping itself around the Pidgey before squeezing it between the length of itself.  
  
The Pidgey gave a cry- "Kurrrrooookoooo!" and fell from the sky, wrapped as it was in Ame's coils. It cried out each time the Dratini constricted its coils about the small bird, and soon it was breathing very heavily, its cry strained and softer as there wasn't enough air to make it through to its lungs while it was slowly being crushed. Arik watched as Ame did this, timing his next command so that she would let go of it at the right time, and he could throw a pokeball at the small bird pokemon.  
  
Soon, the Pidgey was about to faint. "Release!" he called out, and Ame let go of the pokemon, the Pidgey falling from between the Dratini's coils to the ground. It rose up, unsteadily, on its claws as Arik pulled an unused pokeball from the pouch at his waist and aimed for a split second. Then, his foot came forward as he threw the pokeball at the Pidgey. It connecting, bopping the small bird on the head before opening up and drawing it inside. The ball fell to the ground, and began to rock back and forth quickly. Once, twice, three times the ball rocked to the left and then to the right in a back-and-forth action, and then it popped open, the charge in the pokeball spent and the Pidgey burst out, flapping its wings to gain some altitude. "Amazing..." he said out loud- he hadn't thought that the Pidgey would have enough strength to keep fighting like it was doing. Can't be right all the time!  
  
But sure enough, it used Sand Attack again, this time on Ame, who was now unable to see too clearly thanks to the sand that had blasted it's eyes. Then, the Pidgey darted in towards the Dratini, ramming it with its body from one direction, and then the other. Arik watch as this happen, and then winced as a particularly powerful Tackle caused Ame to fall down completely, almost knocking it out. Suddenly, he could see some sort of surge from within his Dratini, and he watched as an electrical discharge coursed along its serpentine body. "Thunder Wave?" he asked aloud, watching as that very attack trapped the Pidgey, causing the pokemon to fall from the sky before actually connecting with Ame again.  
  
"One more time." he muttered, and he drew out another pokeball, expanding it, and then he threw it as the pokemon was falling. He barely managed to tag it, and this time it hit the ground as it entered the pokeball. The pokeball rocked back and forth, much slower than before, and after the third rocking, the indicator went red and then black again. "Good job, Ame!" he called out, running over to make sure that it was alright. She shivered, bruised in several places from the force of the Pidgey's attacks, and he smiled a little, pulling out a potion and applying the healing spray along her body. It took a moment for it to take effect, and then the wounds were gone. "Return, Ame. Good work." he said, and he held out Ame's pokeball, the red beam returning his pokemon to its ball before he turned to pick up his now dead pokeball, setting it into his backpack in its small form before picking up his new pokemon's ball.  
  
"You, my friend, were a bit of a pain, you know." he told the Pidgey, who was undoubtedly nursing its own paralyzed body in the pokeball. "I think I'll call you Arrow." he said, chuckling softly. Tough little Pidgey, obviously, and he smiled as he stretched before setting the pokeball on his jacket, underneath Tsai's and Ame's pokeballs. He smiled, wondering if he'd come across a small town sooner or later, where he could pick up some supplies (not that he needed them yet), or at least a pokemon center so he could heal his pokemon without continuing to use his potion supply. He hoped so, because at this rate, he'd probably be out of Potions by the middle of Route 12- and that was if he didn't run into many more trainers!  
  
He couldn't help but to start wondering how Joy was doing. She must be out along Cycling Road by now, he thought, going uphill the whole way. With a shrug, he turned his attention back to the path at his feet, looking at the different trees that were on either side of him and to the front. If it wasn't for the fact that he knew he was headed west, he would otherwise be lost. "Let's see... what to do?" he asks himself. He wished that there was someone around- travelling by himself was something he wasn't too fond of. Time went slowly and he'd been lonely for a while, ever since he'd battled with that trainer back there.  
  
Arik had seen a pair of people coming his way along the route he'd found himself on about 10 minutes ago, and now that he could see the two people, he found it was a man and a woman travelling together. They looked, from here, to be boyfriend and girlfriend, if their identical clothing told him anything. Black pants, white shirt barely noticable behind a black jacket that had a rather large red 'R' stamped into the middle. The woman had long brown hair and was of average height- he couldn't tell just how attractive she was from this far away, yet. The man had blonde hair, and was significantly taller than the woman was. Both seemed to be physically fit, considering that they were keeping up a steady pace.  
  
The three were about to pass one another after a few more moments, the pair coming close enough for Arik to actually see the color of their eyes. The woman had brown eyes, the man had blue eyes. They nodded to Arik as they passed on either side of him, and Arik nodded to them both- it took but an instant to realize that they hadn't nodded to him, but to each other, as both the man and woman stepped to him quickly. The man's hands reached for Arik's arms, even as Arik attempted to move forward to get out of the way. "What the hell are you doing?" he exclaimed, even as he felt the woman's hands on his chest, but not in a pleasing way. Her fingers seemed to move about to try and grab the pokeballs that were resting on his jacket, but all she managed to do was knock them to the ground.  
  
"Hey, leave 'em alone! They're my pokemon!" he cried out, wresting himself out of his jacket as the struggle continued, the man now holding his empty jacket in his hands before Arik managed to duck down and pick up his miniaturized pokeballs quickly, before the woman could react. His training at the Fuchsia gym had helped quicken his physical response time quite well. The man that was behind him now dropped the jacket and moved forward and downwards, arms outstretched towards Arik. Arik managed to move just enough to toss the pokeballs- one of two triggers known to unleash them from their pokeballs, this one being the non-verbal command. "Come on out! Arrow, Tsai, Ame!" he called, and the three pokeballs burst open as their trainer was restrained on the ground, the man's knee in the middle of his back.  
  
The woman and man looked up to face the pokemon that were unleashed. First came the recently caught Pidgey (named Arrow, of course), flapping its wings slowly as it hovered in place a few feet away. The next was Tsai, at about the same time, escaping his pokeball to stand in place before it. It shook its head and yawned, a "Niiiiiioraaah!" escaping it before looking over to see the predicament its trainer was in. Last was Ame, who appeared just after Tsai did but saw, immediately, what was going on. The Pidgey didn't seem to care, but stayed hovering in place, even as the other two stared down the two people who were completely disrespecting their trainer.  
  
"What the hell... hey, that's a Dratini! Dratinis are one of the rarest pokemon in the world! We gotta get that thing!" the woman exclaimed, standing up from where she had been about to smash Arik's face into the ground. The man above Arik, who had sat his weight on Arik's back, just grinned slightly as he held down the squirming pokemon trainer almost effortlessly. Arik, on the other hand, hearing the woman's words, put two and two together: The 'R' on their jackets, the fact that they assaulted him, and now that they wanted to steal his Ame. That was something he couldn't allow to happen, no matter what!  
  
"Help me out, guys!" he yelled out to his pokemon, just before the woman did do what she had been about to a moment earlier- she used her boot this time, and forced his face into the ground with a stomping action. With his face in the dirt, Arik closed his eyes in pain and humiliation. He didn't know how to wrestle, really- he'd done martial arts, but this guy above him had him in more of a wrestling hold than anything else. And damn, was he holding him down for all he was worth!  
  
"Hey, hey! We don't want a battle, kid. Just give us your Dratini, and you can keep the rest of your pathetic pokemon. We'll even let you go and we won't bother with ya again. Great deal, don't ya think?" the man told him, digging his right knee directly into the middle of the trainer's back, causing a pained groan to escape him. Unknown to the man, who was looking at the back of Arik's head that was pushed into the ground still by the woman's foot, but known by the woman since she was watching ahead of them, Arik's pokemon were about to do something.  
  
"Draaaaaa! Tiniii, Draaaainiii!" came Ame's cry, and the serpentine pokemon launched herself at the man. At the pokemon's cry, the man looked up in time to find himself forced off of Arik as she coiled about his arms, pinning the man's arms and hands against his body. He cried out in pain as she constricted her coils about the man somewhat, a serious, almost dark look in the already dark eyes of the pokemon. Tsai had even gone ballistic, charging at the woman with its horn at the ready, pointing at her chest. The woman, however, threw two pokeballs quickly, coming to land in front of Tsai before opening up and releasing their contents- an Ekans and a Rattata.  
  
"Watch it, kid... we're part of Team Rocket. You sure you wanna make us your enemy?" the woman told him, using her booted foot to grind his face further into the dirt. A muffled yelp escaped him before he managed to bring his arms around, and then he pushed up quickly, the force driving the woman off of him and to stagger back a bit before she could actually reassert her pin on him. Arik opened his eyes and spat out the dirt that he'd been forced to 'eat', before coughing and looking over to his pokemon. Unlike his Tsai, Arrow just hovered in place, not really caring about what had happened to its new trainer. That pokemon, right now, had a bit of an attitude, and Arik couldn't blame it.  
  
"Well now... I know what you're about then. Ain't gonna happen... Tsai, use Peck on the Ekans! Arrow, Tackle attack on her Rattata!" he called out, quickly getting out from close range to the woman, who looked about ready to attack him personally. He grinned slightly, looking over to the man who was getting tightly squeezed in Ame's coils. "Good job, Ame!" he called, encouraging his Dratini. Unfortunately, as a result, it released the man, with a cry, and darted over to Arik to coil around his feet slightly.  
  
"Rattata, Hyper Fang on that Pidgey! Ekans, Poison Sting!" came the call from the woman trainer, and the pokemon all leapt into action. Tsai had already jumped into the fray, and his horn slammed home into the Ekans before it could open its mouth. Surprised at Tsai's sudden attack, the Ekans was thrown away by the impact, forcing its attack to miss Tsai by a mile as its head was turned away from its target. Arrow had attacked as well, broadsiding the Rattata. Too bad for Arrow that it didn't have the strength or mass to knock it for a loop, because right afterwards it leapt back up with glowing fangs and snapped them against the Pidgey, knocking it out of the air. The small bird pokemon fell to the ground, landing in a very small heap. It stirred slightly, but was barely able to get up, flapping its wings slowly as it rose into the sky again.  
  
"Arrow, Sand Attack! Tsai, use Leer!" he called out, quickly. He'd seen the damage done to Arrow and knew it couldn't last another attack that could hit it. Ame remained at his side- he couldn't afford to use it in a battle against them yet. She was his ace in the hole, since he doubted that the Rockets would want to actually harm the Dratini. They wanted to steal her, after all... and then he heard a groan come from the man that had been unconscious after Ame had finished wrapping him up. A second afterwards, he heard the impact of a pokeball on the ground, and then the other, and a flash of red light told Arik that there were two more problems to deal with.  
  
"Raticate, Hyper Fang attack! Zubat, use Supersonic!" he yelled out, and Arik groaned slightly. Those two attacks could really do some damage to his pokemon, he knew, but there was very little he could do about it. He looked to Ame, and nodded slightly- no choice in the matter, he knew. A moment later, the woman was alongside the man, laughing a little as she pointed at him. He knew what she meant, all too well. Tsai faced the Ekans again, its eyes glowing into a golden yellow before managing to stare down that pokemon. Arik's Pidgey finally managed some altitude and flapped its wings furiously, causing a small gust of wind to carry sand into the Rattata's eyes.  
  
The sand didn't stop there, but it didn't stop the Raticate from jumping over the blown sand and striking Arrow with its teeth. Arrow was hit once again by a Hyper Fang attack, and was knocked end over end before falling to the ground in a heap that just wouldn't get up again. The impact caused Arik to wince- would Arrow be alright? He ran over to it, even as Ame remained where she was, facing the four pokemon along with Tsai. Then a sound erupted in the air that would cause Arik to shiver as a result of it, and Tsai just dug its head to the ground, forcing one ear against it to keep the sound from having the desired effect on it.  
  
Now kneeling beside his fallen Pidgey, Arik looked at it carefully before picking it up in his hands. "I hope you'll be okay, Arrow. Back into the ball, now." he says, and returns the fallen bird pokemon to its pokeball. He felt a change in the wind, and Arik looked back to his two pokemon facing off against a Rattata, a Raticate, an Ekans, and a Zubat. He could only wonder what it was until he saw where the wind was generated from.  
  
It was Ame. She stood mostly on just the tip of her tail as she spun in place, and a dirt devil grew around it. The winds whipped around her before expanding from just a small twister to a larger one, and then Ame stopped, giving a cry that sent the Twister towards the Ekans and Rattata, which were side by side after Tsai and Arrows earlier attacks. "What the hell?" Arik said aloud, as he watched the Twister go between the two pokemon and then expand before falling silent, even as the twister's winds blew the pokemon apart and back. Both fell to the ground, and then didn't move again- obviously, Tsai's Leer had done some good against the Ekans.  
  
Tsai was breathing heavily, its purple hide glistening in the sunlight as its body heaved up and down slowly. Ame wasn't breathing hard at all- she'd only now joined the battle, after all. The remaining pokemon didn't seem to be too tired either, and Arik had to wonder if he'd be able to pull this one out of his hat. The two Rockets just watched as Arik's Dratini managed to knock two of their pokemon out of the fight at the same time, and the woman seemed to be pissed off beyond all belief. Arik had to grin at that, and then glanced back to the other two pokemon that were in the battlefield, left to do the rest of the damage to deal with his pokemon. "Oh, shit." he muttered to himself. "They're fresh, Tsai's not... and that Raticate's tough."  
  
The man across the 'field' from Arik couldn't help himself from grinning- he knew that with his evolved pokemon, that there was little that the runt could do to keep himself from losing his Dratini. That Dratini would evolve into a Dragonair, and then again into a Dragonite, which was one of the most powerful and rare pokemon ever to be used. No one in Team Rocket, in Kanto, even had access to a Dragon-type pokemon. If he captured it, he'd become an executive almost immediately! Forget his worthless partner, who for some odd reason always kept the Ekans that she had. It was a worthless pokemon to be sure, but had a few (very few) good uses.  
  
"That's it... Raticate, use Quick Attack on that Nidoran! Zubat, Leech Life on that Dratini!" he yelled out, and Arik sighed- an attack like Raticate's on Tsai would probably knock it out! He had to think of something faster than that Raticate could move, but with the fact that a Raticate was obviously faster, stronger, and more experienced...  
  
"Just great... Ame, Wrap Raticate! Nidoran, Peck Zubat!" he yelled out, hoping to be able to deflect the Raticate's attack by giving it three problems. One- a moving target. Two- a moving, attacking target. Three- the chance of hitting its own partner while attempting to hit its named target. It was a bit of a problem for the Raticate that Ame managed to wrap around it just as it leapt into the air with its attack towards Tsai! The added weight slowed it down just enough to give Tsai the narrow escape it needed, and it managed to down the Zubat with a powerful attack in the flying pokemon's chest, knocking it out in midair to fall to the ground.  
  
Ame cinched her coils tighter around the Raticate, forcing the pokemon to cry out in pain. However, with a movement too quick for Arik to really see, it escaped from the Dratini's attack and darted out into the open. It was breathing heavily now, and now, the numbers advantage had changed to favor Arik's team. Ame was breathing a little harder now and Tsai looked about ready to collapse. Arik could feel his own body heat rising, as if he was willing the pokemon in the battle against the other that the Rockets had sent against him. The man across from him looked to be in shock- that his pokemon's Quick Attack had missed and his Zubat had been knocked out with a single hit (luck, of course, he knew, but still).  
  
"Tsai, use Leer! Ame, use Wrap attack again!" Arik called out, barely before the man could open his mouth to call to his Raticate. There was little that Arik could do at this point, since having Tsai fully attack would just bring it into simple 'Hyper Fang' range. He hoped that Tsai could bring himself up to using another attack, because that Raticate was probably going to be the end of him if he couldn't! Ame looked pretty apprehensive, unsure if she wanted to initiate the attack, but immediately struck out at Arik's command. Tsai, on the other hand, seemed to wobble in place, and needed to take a deep breath before being able to begin it's own commanded attack.  
  
"Raticate, Hyper Fang on that Dratini!" was the man's response to Arik's commands, and Arik winced. He didn't want to see another mess like what had happened to her back in the Safari Zone. It was too late though- Ame was already on her way towards the Raticate, and Tsai's eyes glowed a bright yellow at Raticate, shocking it just a little, but not stopping its movements towards the darting Dratini. It bit down quickly at Ame, its two front teeth converging upon the blue scales of its target, digging into and then parting the scales as it bit into flesh completely.  
  
Ame's cry erupted in pain as it thrashed against the Raticate's attack, and it visibly shivered as its blood seeped from the wound when the Raticate's teeth left the Dratini's body. "Not again!" he said, loud enough for his opponents to hear, though they likely wouldn't care. "Tsai, Peck attack now! Ame, return!" he yelled out, picking out Ame's pokeball to return the Dratini to its pokeball. "Good job, Ame... I'll get you healed as soon as I can." he tells it inside the pokeball, and he sets it back in the miniturized mode onto his jacket before he glanced back up and over to the two remaining pokemon.  
  
Tsai immediately lunged forward, somehow regaining strength from the moment it had had to recover its breath, and drove its horn into the Raticate's chest. Not a particularly powerful attack, it had, however, punctured deep into the Raticate's flesh, and blood flowed from it as a result when the Nidoran backed up, shuddering as it smelled and felt the sticky blood on its muzzle and horn. The Raticate fell down, twitching, as the Rocket who had been giving it orders stared in disbelief. "No! How the hell could my Raticate lose to a measly little bastard Nidoran!" he yelled, falling to his knees. The woman beside him shook her head and sighed, having watched the proceedings the entire time.  
  
"Kid, we'll be after you from now on. Count on it!" she called over to Arik, who simply smiled slightly as he recalled his pokemon. Soon afterwards, he was gone, not saying anything to the Rocket members but to his pokemon, hurrying off as fast as he could to the north now, winding up on Route 14. He had to hurry along and find a place to rest and heal his Dratini's wound before it became infected or it bled to death... He hoped that the Raticate would at least receive the same treatment from Team Rocket.  
  
Team Rocket, Kanto Division Executive Roland, Kanto branch  
  
With the defeat of the leader Giovanni, both as a Team Rocket mastermind and as the leader of the Viridian City Gym, operations in Kanto has ground to nearly a standstill. Many operatives have fled to the Johto regions, along with the few remaining Silph scientists that are still loyal to our cause. Our base in the islands of the Kanto region was destroyed by the same trainer who had defeated Giovanni. Without a permanent base in the Kanto region now, our operations have dropped by 90 from what they once were. Most operatives have been apprehended or have simply left the organization. With our numbers dwindling each month, it is only a matter of time until Team Rocket is no longer a functioning crime syndicate in this part of the world.  
  
Giovanni has gone into training somewhere in the world, after the incident on the island. None of our operatives have managed to obtain information as to his whereabouts, which leads our remaining executives to believe he is in seclusion, either in Africa or South America. Given his interest in the pokemon known as 'Mew', it has been suggested that we concentrate our search in South America, where the last vestiges of this pokemon was found, according to notes retrieved from Cinnabar Island before the volcano erupted. He is also interested in attempting to find the genetically enhanced pokemon, Mewtwo, that he created a few years ago, but was promptly lost thanks to its psychic powers.  
  
Our few operatives in the Kanto region number only in the low hundreds. None have managed to obtain any extremely rare pokemon, however, a pair of operatives near Fuchsia City has reported an encounter today with a trainer who has managed to capture a Dratini, and with it, managed defeated our operatives, despite a numerical advantage on our operatives' part. All remaining operatives available have been given orders to head to Fuchsia and Lavender Town, to steal the Dratini as the opportunity arises. As of yet, there has been no other sightings of this trainer, save that he is, perhaps, 15 years old and is wearing a light blue jacket and jeans. Half a dozen flunkies as well as a pair of executives are converging on Lavender town, and half a dozen more (including the pair that made contact with the trainer before) are moving along Route 14 to seal any escape on the trainer's part.  
  
Two operatives are still tailing the trainer who defeated Giovanni, and have tracked him to the Johto region. However, he has eluded our team for the past month, having flown to someplace that we do not have charted. Rumors have speculated that the trainer may have gone to Mt. Silver, in which case it will be very difficult to confront him. We have operatives stationed in all major gyms as well, to learn of any leaders that may be interested in joining our cause. As of yet, however, none have been found.  
  
End progress report.  
  
A day later, and Arik was still on the road- he hadn't stopped at all, not even taking time to sleep at night. He felt very tired, and had both Arrow and Tsai out to keep watch as he trudged along. His legs felt heavy and he barely noticed when the ground he walked on started taking an uphill turn. All of his pokemon other than Ame had kept him company (and awake) during the night, and he had to use two Potions to heal Ame's puncture wound so that she wouldn't be in pain for a long time. He used a potion on both Arrow and Tsai as well, though he knew he was running out of them already. He'd only begun with She retained the wound, however, a scar on both sides of her serpentine body down near her tail. As the day came back, both Arrow and Tsai remained out, healed already and somewhat rested.  
  
More rested than Arik, at least, and he yawned slowly, even as Arrow flew overhead- he hadn't found anyone following them, and Tsai obviously couldn't hear anyone coming towards them. Arik's eyes were barely half open as he walked along the route. Of course, that was only until Arrow gave a cry and landed on Arik's shoulder, and Tsai gave a growl. His eyes opened wide, alert for a moment or two at least, as he looked ahead of them to where they had seen someone. It was some trainer wearing overalls... seemed to have a cage of sorts beside him, too. He didn't have much hair, but what he had was black hair anyway.  
  
"Hey, let's have a battle!" came the voice of a trainer. The trainer was a guy, yes, but he didn't have any pokeballs on his person. At least, not that he could see, anyway. Arik sighed softly and shook his head slowly as he heard those words- he knew that he couldn't afford a battle at this point. His pokemon were tired and besides, he had a bit of trouble right now, after all. Arik just looked to the trainer again, barely keeping his eyes open now, as he shakes his head at him. The black haired trainer muttered under his breath as he saw Arik's reaction, and then stepped up to confront him. "Well, why not? Think you're too good to battle me, huh?"  
  
"It... haaah!.. It's not that..." he said, yawning as he attempts to speak with the trainer. "I haven't slept for over 24 hours, and I've got..." he continued, having to break off as he yawns once more. "I've got some Team Rocket guys trying to catch up with me, I think." he finished. Even as he said this, he knew that it sounded bad- Team Rocket hadn't been heard of for quite a while, after all, at least not in Kanto. "I'm tryin' to get to Lavender Town quick, otherwise they'll probably catch up. I beat 'em yesterday, but I bet that we won't be able to defeat them again when they cheat like they do, ya know."  
  
The trainer just watched him, trying to decide if Arik was lying or what. He'd heard of some trainers in the area having lost their pokemon after a battle against some shady-looking people. But then... Team Rocket? They'd been defeated two years ago! Arik could tell that the trainer was considering his story, and he sighed softly. "I can't really afford to sleep, otherwise they might catch up with me and steal my pokemon while I'm asleep, ya know? I can't really stop them unless I'm awake." Arik told him, even as he pulled his two pokeballs out and returned Arrow and Tsai to them. Then, he pulled the third ball out. "Ame, come on out." he said, and his Dratini materialized, much to the trainer's surprise. The trainer obviously recognized that particular, blue and white colored, serpent-like pokemon immediately, which surprised Arik and gasped.  
  
"A Dratini?! You can't be serious! No wonder they'd be followin' you. Alright, I think I can help you out." the trainer said, and grinned a little as the Dratini was returned to its pokeball. Arik sighed softly- he couldn't take much more of this. Caffeine was something he hadn't stocked up on when he had packed up for the trip, and since he was no longer moving on while he talked with this guy, sleep was really coming after him with a vengeance. The trainer seemed to realize this, and he just smiled slightly. "Come on, I'll take you over to my camp. You can rest there for a while, and if anyone comes around askin' for ya, I'll tell 'em I haven't seen any trainers come by, okay?"  
  
"Sounds good to... haaaahh! Me..." Arik replied, trailing into a yawn as he put a hand over his mouth to be polite. He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them back up again quickly, looking back to the trainer who just laughed before walking off. Arik walked after him, almost dead on his feet at this point. With another deep, lasting yawn, Arik managed to keep going after the nice trainer, and soon they were at the camp that the guy had mentioned. The flap of the tent was opened for Arik, who smiled as well as he could as he managed to get inside, then just sprawled out off to the side just before falling asleep. "Thank you..." was all that he could say, even as the flap was closed behind him. The sound of footsteps walking away wasn't heard within the minute after he had fallen asleep- Arik was out like a light.  
  
"Dammit! I can't believe we lost to that kid yesterday, even if he did have a Dratini!" the woman's voice yelled out, as the pair walked along Route 15. The man just sighed- he'd had to listen to her for hours on end about that trainer they'd faced. The kid had been right, too. They didn't have his name, and just about anyone who was a pokemon trainer would blend in among others after a little work at the most. He was also a bit worried about his partner- Amy had been threatening to quit Team Rocket and work on her own as a trainer lately. They hadn't had any luck facing new challenges, and it was rare that they managed to steal anything. He could understand why she was disturbed by their lack of progress.  
  
"Quiet down, Serra. No need to yell, I'm right here. And remember, there's a bunch of other operatives closing in on Lavender Town. It's the only place that kid can go, other than Vermilion City, after all. And there's two routes between him and both of those towns, so there's no way he can escape our trap that's waitin' for him." he told her... for the fifth time today. He chuckled softly, watching as she relaxed for the moment. It wouldn't last long, he knew. It hadn't after each time he'd told her that, after all. "And with our new pokemon, the kid doesn't stand a chance." he said, grinning slightly. The world didn't know many dragon pokemon, but their weaknesses were rumored to be extreme cold. A Dragon-type was often difficult to defeat, and usually took several different pokemon to actually knock one down. Dragonites were the most well known Dragon-types in Kanto, and they were very powerful in both attack and defense. A trainer had gone against the one-time Pokemon Master in the Elite Four, and was beat down almost immediately by it's ferocious attacks.  
  
"Yeah, I know, Jim. I'm just pissed that he got the better of us, not just his pokemon." she said. Finally, a different answer other than silence after half the day had gone by. They'd been walking along the route since early this morning, after a quick stop in Fuchsia to heal the pokemon they had, and transfer them back to their temporary base to get new ones. She smiled slightly, to herself, when she saw her partner not watching her. She kinda enjoyed their bout with that trainer who had defeated them- he was pretty sarcastic and skilled, to say the least. There wasn't much that had been said between the Rocket members and the trainer, but she had the feeling that even if he was a beginner, he was obviously more knowledgable about pokemon than most trainers that the pair had ever come across.  
  
"He can't have gotten too far, if he went ahead and stopped for the night last night. He's probably still on Route 14, I bet." Jim said, and both of them grinned. "Once we catch him, getting that Dratini from one brat won't be a problem at all. I'm glad the higher-ups decided to give us stronger pokemon than those poison types... They ain't really the best pokemon type there is. But why you decided to keep that Ekans, I'll never figure out." Serra just smiled to herself as he made that little comment. Little did he know that this particular Ekans was one from the family that her old Ekans had been part of. Unfortunately for her, her original Ekans had met its demise at the hands of an Electrode that used Explosion while it had been wrapped up around it.  
  
"Personal preference, Jim. Poison types are pretty good... well, against most pokemon, at least." she told him, and then became quiet, much more calm now and thinking deeply, walking along the route beside her teammate. After their report and subsequent posting to go after the trainer, she had to wonder if that was truly the best choice, for her, and her teammate. She knew he didn't care for her in the slightest, and not once, in a battle, did he ever help out her pokemon unless it was to make sure that they would win. He believed, fully, in Team Rocket's ideal of using Pokemon as if they were tools, and nothing more. Serra, on the other hand, believed in training a pokemon herself- she knew from experience that the ones you train will work hardest for the trainer, unlike ones that are simply used by just anyone. That was likely why that Raticate had lost to that runt's little Nidoran, she thought, and she thought even more as she wandered with her partner down the route.  
  
Behind the two Rocket members was a woman who traveled lightly concealed in the woods as she darted from tree to tree, watching and listening. She knew who they spoke of- she had talked with the ex-nurse Joy in Fuchsia before she left, the day before yesterday. She wore a black and purple kimono, along with the same-colored shawl that hid most of her face other than her eyes. Indeed, it was Janine. When she'd heard that her friend had set off already, and after Joy had told her what his two pokemon were, she couldn't help but to feel as if he had simply given up on their ever having a pokemon battle together. Hurt, but after she had listened in on the conversation of the two that she was now trailing while she was in the pokemon center, she could almost understand what had happened.  
  
She knew Arik better than anyone other than Nurse Joy did. He had enough strength to keep going for over 24 hours, but he had never improved on that since Koga had left the gym. With a grin, Janine moved quickly, faster than the two members of Team Rocket, and took a shortcut through the forest that only members of her gym would know of. She'd get to Arik first, and have her battle with him if possible- she only hoped that it wasn't too late. Joy had continued on her way after their talk, heading out along Cycling Road, but Janine went immediately after Arik along Route 15. She was faster than he was, though he was pretty good at moving quickly himself, and therefore much faster than the two she had passed up a few minutes ago. She had a good idea as to where he might be, several miles away. She kept tabs on all the trainers within 10 miles of her gym, the few that there were these days at least. Of course, she had personally kept tabs on Arik more than most other trainers other than other gym leaders.  
  
"We will have our battle, my friend..." she told herself, though she spoke out loud and to no one withing earshot. Arik was someone she needed to battle- these feelings of unrest needed settled. Koga, her own father, had told her once that she needed to focus more upon herself and her training rather than upon others. He had not known, nor had she provided him any information, with regards as to whom she might have been focused upon so much. Koga had, however, been suspicious that she was interested in Arik, and as such, if he was keeping her mind off of her training, had banished him from the Gym, except when on Pokemon Center or Gym-related business. Now, however...  
  
"Arik, you will not get away from me!" she muttered under her breath, even as she stopped behind a tree, seeing a Pokemon Ranger looking in her direction. She waited for the ranger to look the other way, and then she was gone, moving quickly enough not to be seen. Janine, however, wasn't really being truthful with herself. She'd been waiting for a chance to travel with Arik ever since she'd received her starting pokemon. They'd had it planned out, that after they had their battle that they would go their seperate ways for a while, but would catch up with one another in either Saffron City or Vermilion City, and travel together from there. The crush she had once had on Arik never really left her. But then, she'd become so interested in other people that the crush had only fueled their rivalry to become more than just a friendly one. With a smirk, she hurried onwards, certain that by the end of the day, she would find her old friend. If not... well, she hoped he could hold his own with his pokemon long enough for help to arrive. Namely, her.  
  
Around six hours later, Arik woke up to the sound of thunder overhead. With a sigh, and no one else around this late, he took out his pokedex as he sat up, crossing his legs as he rests there. "Information on Dratini." he said to the pokedex, and instead of letting it tell him the information, he had it printed on the screen. An older model pokedex, he realized, and a smile crossed his face as he read what information that professor Oak had been able to provide him. A slow evolver- many dragon types rarely evolve fully before the original trainer gives up training pokemon. They learn many attacks, but an early dragon attack that Dratini learns is Twister. Normally, pokemon of this family are only obtained somewhere in Johto.  
  
Of course, the Pokedex didn't tell him too much that he didn't know already. But the attack would be useful information. With a sigh, he stretched slowly before walking out from the tent, and then blinked in surprise as drops of water fell onto his face. It was lightly raining, and he sighed softly as he looked up to the sky. The clouds were fairly dark, and it was pretty dark to begin with, anyway. With a grin, he grabbed his notebook and wrote a note for the trainer who had helped him out- he didn't say where exactly he was going or how he was going to get there, of course. There was no telling if there was anyone following behind him, and if there was, if they'd ransack this little camp if they could find it. He thanked the trainer for his help, and left a five dollar bill under his sleeping bag. Before he left, he set the bill under the guy's sleeping bag, and with a smile, Arik walked out into the rain, now heading directly west along Route 13.  
  
He knew that he couldn't afford to wait through a storm- his sleep that he'd just received would now be put to good use. He zipped up the jacket he was wearing, the temperature getting pretty cold out, even for him. With a smile, he continued through the rain, not running into any trainers along his way. He made good time, thanks to the steady, light rain that was coming down. Most trainers and other people wouldn't bother being out and about in a thunderstorm like this, even if the majority of the bad weather seemed to be centered down in or around Fuchsia City. He'd be out of the weather himself, if it were possible, if it wasn't for the fact that he'd get more distance from the people he was sure would be following him. Again, he couldn't help but to wish he was traveling with someone else. It was pretty, well... lonely, all by himself, with no one to talk to. Or was it simply that misery loves company?  
  
Time alone was time for reflection: he found himself recalling his recent battle (as in just yesterday) with Team Rocket. It had been his first battle, actually, and knew now the he could have done better against them. Or, at least, he thought he could have. It had been three against four, and he'd been lucky that Arrow managed to defeat that Zubat so quickly to begin with. His pokemon seemed to be a little weaker than he had hoped they were, though... At least his pokemon were fast and able to respond to his commands quickly. Tsai had done pretty well, too, managing to take down that Koffing before Team Rocket managed to give it orders to Self-Destruct or use Explosion. Ame had taken down a Raticate and the Ekans. Chances are that he'd underestimated his pokemon's strength, maybe even over-estimated Team Rocket's strength at the same time. "If there's a next time... I won't make mistakes like that again." he told himself.  
  
The weather grew worse as he walked eastward. This length of the route was short, however, and pretty soon he was going north again, even though the wind was picking up. "Sheesh... this is ridiculous." he muttered. Maybe Lavender Town was a bad idea? It was certainly possible. And if he remembered correctly, about halfway up Route 12 there was an entrance to another route that led towards Vermilion City. That city might be faster to get to, he thought, and a grin crossed his face. Besides, there was bound to be a guardhouse in that direction, too, and he could get some rest up there. The Rockets wouldn't do a thing right in the plain sight of police officers, after all. With that in mind, he continued along the route with slow, careful steps, so he wouldn't slip on the muddy road at his feet. He just hoped that his intuition would serve him well in this case- he needed to get his pokemon to a Pokemon Center before he got into many more battles.  
  
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Author's Note: Well, here's the latest chapter. As I said in the beginning, I had most of this done before I managed to get online to check for reviews on the last two chapters. Hopefully, I'll have the next chapter half done (or more) before I get to check for more reviews, too. Are there really a lot of childish pokemon fanfics (worse than this, I mean)? I'm trying to fit this series into the niche that seems to be between Adult (NC-17) ratings and Childish (G & PG) ratings. I haven't had the chance to look up other pokemon fanfics on , so I don't know just how bad or good the fanfiction in this category has been. I think I've ended up basing this off of the re-released blue/red games, LeafGreen and FireRed, which are much better than the originals were, so any inconsistencies along those lines should be solved here and now. lol 


	4. Chapter 4

First Journey Chapter 4  
  
by MacrossGreen  
  
Author's Note: Now that Chapter 3 is done, I've decided to wait a very short while before finishing with this chapter. However, by the time anyone reads this, I will have received any comments/reviews that were given for Chapter 3, and any suggestions made will most likely have been taken into consideration.  
  
-----  
  
It had been two days since the members of Team Rocket had come across that trainer with the Dratini. Numerous calls had been made, all directed via cell phone towards Lavender Town and Vermilion City. No operatives in either city had found the trainer that had the dratini, or even vaguely resembled the description that had been given to them. It was enough to make Serra sleep uneasily that night, while her partner slept like a rock. She hated leaving things half done, even if it was beyond her control. The fact she'd been defeated by some trainer ate at her- she had rarely ever been defeated before!  
  
Her first defeats had been her first half dozen battles. The worst part of it was, the last battle had seen her pokemon defeated in a single attack from a very powerful pokemon. If that hadn't been enough, she had been defeated as well from that same attack that caused her pokemon to faint- a Hyper Beam wasn't something to laugh at. In her nightmares, she could still feel the excruciating pain from the attack that had been launched at her. It had defeated her Ekans, and then when the attacking pokemon looked her way, the beam had launched towards her as well. It had struck and she had fallen, almost at the same time.  
  
"I can not keep this up... I must battle him again, and win this time!" she told herself, her inner voice yelling those words in her mind even as she spoke under her breath. She was still haunted by her previous losses, and now, with a fresh loss after such a long time, she was livid. She was resting in her sleeping bag, where she and her partner had decided to rest for the night... But no longer. She quietly slipped out of the bag and tucked everything away. Serra knew what she had to do, before it ate her up inside. She gathered her things, and was gone at midnight. Her quiet steps took her further along the route, to the point where she would soon need to decide which way to go.  
  
"Route 12... or, Route 11?" she asked herself, walking steadily on. Her eyes caught the sight of some light up ahead and she immediately went serious. Her eyes squinted at the light, and she crept quietly along the road in that direction. It took half an hour for her to come up to where the light was- a fire had been built, but there was no one around. The night was rather quiet, even for this shallow range into the woods from the route. There should have been the sounds of nocturnal pokemon, at least, she knew, and then she knew that this was most likely a trap. "Dammit." she said to herself and then she could imagine that someone was watching her from very closeby.  
  
"Move before I say you can, and I will let you stand witness to my sinister technique, girl." came the quiet, calm, and collected voice of a woman. Serra stood there, unmoving save for the heaving of her chest, up and down quickly. There was a piece of metal, cold and slightly burning to the flesh, pressed against the small of the Rocket girl's back- certainly, quite sharp, even through the fabric of her clothes. A fast movement and a blur around Serra's peripheral vision brought her attacker into view- she wore dark clothes with a slightly lighter colored trim.  
  
The woman simply smiled slightly, and the expression told Serra that she couldn't be too much older than she was. Her bangs were dark, what little of her hair that Serra could see. She seemed to watch her now, the two practically staring at each other as each waited on the other. Finally, Serra couldn't take it anymore. "What is it you want?" she asked through clenched teeth, looking into the other girl's dark eyes. This was starting to really annoy her now, since the feeling in her gut told her that she was losing, in a way other than a simple pokemon battle. The girl before her slipped back, standing between Serra and the fire now, her body silhouetted by the firelight behind her. She smiled still, remaining silent a moment longer, even as Serra's anger grew again. "Well?"  
  
"Silence, little girl. I wonder, why would you be heading this way this late at night, hm? Are you perhaps looking for something? Or, even someone?" the girl asked, and Serra could feel the anger intensify yet again. A cold feeling filled the Rocket girl, even as her anger made her extremely heated on the outside. How did this other girl know that she was looking for someone? She couldn't put a finger on it, but she did seem familiar somehow. Had they met before?  
  
The girl nodded once to Serra as she saw the indecision on her face, and then spoke again, the smile leaving her. "I am Janine. The Fuchsia City gym leader." She stood proud, of course, as she always did when introducing herself. At her waist, around the belt she wore that kept her robe wrapped around her easily, were a total of six pokeballs, and one could bet that all six were filled with pokemon intent on producing poison and confusion to any foe. Along the trim of the gym leader's robe were several throwing stars as well, save one that was missing. That particular shuriken was in her hand, the same cold metal that Serra had felt pressed into the small of her back.  
  
Serra blinked in surprise at those words. Certainly, she knew of this particular person, but had never actually met her. Team Rocket kept tabs on each and every gym leader in each country- several in other countries were even influenced or part of Team Rocket. Giovanni, for instance, had been a Gym Leader before becoming a very high-ranking official within the organization. Of course, none now knew where to find him. This leader, she knew, had taken over after her father had risen to the ranks of the Elite Four with his perfected techniques in his gym. Team Rocket had gained many of its pokemon from trainers who had once been a part of this particular gym- poison attacks had become Team Rocket's mainstay.  
  
"Oh... shit..." was all that Serra could mutter. Janine simply laughed at her words and shrugged, setting the shuriken that she had held to Serra's back away now. Serra knew that she didn't stand much of a chance against a gym leader, even with the pokemon she'd managed to have provided to her by her superiors to deal with the Dratini that that kid had. Plus, she even knew most of Janine's pokemon line-up from the latest reports, and several could Self Destruct.  
  
"Alright... I believe I know who your target is, and what you're after. You want to beat my friend with the Dratini, don't you?" was the gym leader's question, and Serra's eyes widened. How could she possibly have known that? Unless she'd listened in on them when they had spoken with their superiors... Janine nodded once more, seeing the look in the girl's eyes. Bingo! "Well, I'll tell you right now. You will not reach him. You will have to defeat me in order to get to my friend. And, as I am certain you are well aware, I am not as simple as the other trainers you have likely ever fought and stolen from, after all."  
  
Serra knew that, for a fact, that this gym leader was correct. Janine had a reputation for being nearly ruthless in battle against any trainer and their pokemon. Often, she would even defeat trainers who entered her gym with only a single pokemon to do the battling on her part. The last several trainers who had been from Team Rocket faced her in her own gym- and they were soundly defeated, of course. "Yeah, yeah... so I'm after the kid with the Dratini. He beat me and my partner, and I want to get back at 'im." she told the girl, who looked to be on the verge of laughing her ass off.  
  
"You don't even know my friend's name, do you? Well then, little girl, I should tell you that that Trainer's name is Arik. We kinda go way back... but that's not important to you. What is important is that you won't get near him while I'm around, so you may as well go back to your friend and run away." Janine replied, looking rather smug as she watched the girl with the black coat with the red 'R' on the front. "I overheard you and your partner a little while ago. You're pretty loud, you know that? Turn tail now, or battle me and lose, girl. Your choice."  
  
Janine was now in a state that few who ever met her had ever seen her in. Arik, out of anyone outside the gym (and even then, only Koga had ever seen this vicious side of her), had seen this side of her only once. Serra could tell that, even with the cold lump in her stomach and the anger within her rising to the overflow-point, she would need to reconsider her stance on all this. Would she chance battling a gym leader, even if she were to use all of her pokemon at once? Or should she play it safe, and go 'around' her later on?  
  
Around this same time, Arik was hiding outside the guardhouse that was between Route 12 and Route 11. He'd seen some rather strange looking people pass by earlier, one of them wearing a black jacket of a style that reminded him of the pair of Rockets he had barely managed to defeat the day before yesterday. He'd made good time at night, even through the rain that had poured left him soaked and muddy. He had found some shelter, fortunately, in a small alcove in a hill that looked as if it had been pressed inwards in the hill by some extreme weight. With that much shelter, he had taken the time to finally bandage the wound that had been inflicted on Ame, and then brought her back into the pokeball.  
  
The bandaging was a simple way to stop the bleeding at best- it staunched the wound, slowed and then stopped the bleeding, but he had nothing to stop any sort of infection that might develop. Ame was pretty weak, even after a pair of potions had been used upon her. That left Arik with three potions, and one pokemon left that could possibly be used in a pokemon battle. And because of Arrow being out of it, still just as weak as Ame despite not being wounded.  
  
So, behind a bush as several trainers went past, Arik waited. A Weedle came up behind him after a while, looking at him in surprise. Arik had to shush the little posionous pokemon away, and surprisingly enough, it did go away after few minutes, without trying to sting him. The act didn't draw any attention from anyone or anything else passing by, thankfully, and as soon as the coast was clear, Arik made a dash towards the guardhouse. He reached it easily enough, without anyone's notice, though that would change once he grabbed the door handle and pulled it open, and inside he went.  
  
Once inside, he had to blink at the brighter light. Since it was still pretty late, and his eyes hadn't adjusted immediately, his eyes closed and he had to wait for a minute before he could open them again. He heard a familiar voice come from to his left, and he turned towards the voice he heard. "What are you doing out so late? Shouldn't you be at a pokemon center by now?" the voice called over to him, and Arik chuckled softly. Obviously, this certain person didn't know him, which made him realize who it must be, even though he didn't know her either. "Officer Jenny, I presume?" he said, opening his eyes as he shielded his sight from the light as he continued to get adjusted to it.  
  
'Yes, that's me." the green haired woman said, coming up to him. Her blue and red uniform was crisp and well-maintained, and the gold buttons shone with the bright lights that lit up the guardhouse. "Well, what are you doing here instead of at a pokemon center or asleep for the night already?" she asked him, standing in front of Arik. His own clothes were a mess- still damp, his pants muddy, and his hair... well, there was sand in it still, dirt on his face, and therefore, he was pretty damned dirtied up from the past few days. No wonder the officer seemed a bit unsure of him.  
  
"What can I say... I was attacked by Team Rocket the day before yesterday. I have a wounded pokemon with me that I really need to get to a pokemon center. My Pidgey was knocked out during that same battle, and I've been battling the weather just to get here." he told her. Fatigue could be seen on his face, and in the way he was somewhat sluped over. This kid needed a bath. If the story he gave was true, and it certainly looked as if it might be, then Jenny knew that she would need to help this poor kid somehow.  
  
"Team Rocket? They're gone. They've been disbanded in this region for years now. Come up with a better story next time." she told him, not really believing the kid's story in the slightest. Arik sighed, shivering slightly as he stood there as Jenny started in on him, going off on his needing to sleep and clean up, and not to lie to people about why he was up this late. It took only a minute of this for Arik's own anger to boil over the top. He didn't get angry very easily, but when he did, he tended to be somewhat explosive.  
  
"Shut up! I don't need to be lectured by you, officer!" he said loudly, not quite yelling at her. He was angry, she could easily tell, both in his voice and his demeanor. "I'm tired, I'm dirty, I have a wounded Dratini and my other pokemon are not faring much better. I have had six hours of sleep, if that, in the past two days! I had to fight against opponents who sent out four pokemon to my three, and my pokemon managed to win against them. If you don't want to believe me, fine. I'll head to Vermilion City without any help, and I doubt I'll be able to fend off any trainers who might want to battle me this next time. If you think I'm a liar, well, so be it." he said angrily, and then he stalked off towards the far door that led to Route 11.  
  
The officer just stood there with her mouth open, watching after the kid that had just chewed her out. No trainer had ever gotten angry enough or had enough courage to do that to her! She'd faced down criminals, Team Rocket, trainers gone bad, and worse in her career as an officer of the law. However, she'd never had to deal with a trainer who'd done nothing wrong, to her knowledge, just go off on her before she was finished dealing with him. Soon, the pretty officer's lips closed up as she smirked, wondering just what had happened there, even as Arik walked out of the guardhouse. The way he had spoken about all that made her doubt her original assessment of his story- it wasn't like it was impossible, after all. That part about Team Rocket was unlikely, but she had also heard rumors from other trainers about being attacked by people who claimed to be from Team Rocket.  
  
With a sigh, she walked towards the door, turning only to face the other officer that was behind the desk, his jaw hanging low as he had seen and heard the entire thing. She told him not to talk about this to anyone- this particular officer was known for not keeping his mouth shut at times. He just nodded vacantly as his superior officer walked out of the guardhouse and over to where her motorcycle was kept. The kid walked fast, obviously. He was already nearly out of sight into the darkness of night, and was nearing the first rank of tall grass out towards Vermilion City. She cursed under her breath as she revved up the motorcycle, the action taking up a few crucial seconds for her to get going towards the trainer who had chewed her out.  
  
Arik, on the other hand, was walking faster than he usually did, despite the fact that he was tired, wet, dirty, and royally pissed off. He couldn't blame her, really... but he did, since he'd never really been considered a liar before. He wouldn't lie about his pokemon needing help, after all. She'd simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and already he felt bad as his anger dissipated. This young man wasn't much of a liar- he could tell a little white lie easily enough, but when it came to something extravagant... well, only the most oblivious person (or a Slowpoke) wouldn't be able to tell the truth from the lie.  
  
He heard the sound of the motorcycle behind him, not too far away, as it was turned on, and then the squeel of tires made him turn around to see what was going on. The sound of the motorcycle's engine grew louder as it came closer to him at breakneck speeds. Then, it took a turn as it came near him, sliding into a large puddle that he had just managed to walk around. A wave of water splashed out towards Arik, only to miss him as he dove to the side, landing roughly and with a groan of pain on the ground. The rider of the bike just grinned beneath the helmet, an action Arik couldn't see even if he tried to, and then brought the bike upright again, twisting her hand on the handle.  
  
The officer on the bike simply passed by quickly, through a mud puddle that reached for quite a ways away in a dip in the road. The sudden introduction of a fast moving object through a still pool of water caused a rather large splashing of water to wash over Arik's already damp form, soaking him right through as a result. The motorcycle sped off into the distance, and the light of its headlight flashed out of sight as the sound of the bike's motor became lower and more distant. With a sigh, and shoulders slumped, Arik walked into the tall grass that would take him in a direct path towards the distant city.  
  
"What a night..." he muttered, sighing to himself as he brushed through the grass that reached to his shoulders. He knew that he could that he couldn't afford a battle, either with trainers or with the wild pokemon out tonight thanks to the condition his own pokemon were in. He could hear a soft rattling and slithering coming closer, and he looked around, now staying in place as he saw some of the grass about him moving from side to side slowly. Finally, the sound of whatever it was became clearer as they moved steadily closer to Arik's place, and he knelt down, standing, just barely and carefully, on his feet as he waited. It only took a moment for a group of Ekans to pass by his place, not looking anywhere other than in front of them as they stuck their tongues out as they slithered past. "Kans....ek, eka, sa..." was what Arik heard them crying lowly, to one another as they disappeared into the grass again.  
  
Then, there was a slower pace, a soft thudding along the ground. A slow, even lower noise came in the evening air as the grass parted more and more from whatever it was coming his way than the Ekans had made. Arik got up quickly- Ekans had fairly bad sight, but rather good senses of hearing and smell. These parts in the grass that he could see were bigger, and if he remembered what he'd heard about the pokemon in these parts was correct, then these were probably Drowzee. His suspicions were confirmed as he heard their cries finally, and Arik moved faster in the grass to find himself stumbling down a small hill and onto pavement once more. "Ow..."  
  
"Hey, what was that?" a voice called out, obviously directed to others that weren't too far away. Arik froze for a second, but was soon on his feet, pushing up with bloodied hands that were scraped and scratched pretty bad from the impact of landing on the rough concrete. His knees were sticking to his pants- not just because he was soaked, he suspected. His shins? Probably a mess, from mud and possibly blood. This was just killing him! First an encounter (a bad one!) with the law, then some pokemon, and now possibly someone going after the pokemon that he'd just passed by. Possibly, they were after him now, too.  
  
"I heard that too. Didn't sound like a pokemon!" came a second voice, and Arik just took off to the west as he starting pumping his legs up and down. Running now, he heard a yell from behind and didn't even look that way- the lights of the city were in sight now, even through the tall grass and hills that blocked the actual sight of the city ahead. He was going full tilt through the grass when his left foot was caught underneath something, and caused him to take yet another tumble, Arik's eyes closing as his arms moved in front of him, an attempt made to catch himself before it was too late. Another sound was heard, a cry of pain, as it too dropped beside him.  
  
Arik let out a groan as he rested there for but a moment- he hoped his speed had allowed him to slip past the people who were coming after him. But then, when he felt something warm against his leg, he turned to look and see what was there. The light was still very dim, and his sight was going- lack of sleep and lethargy was getting to him now, moreso than before. He hadn't lied to Jenny about that, after all. When he looked down near his leg, he saw a pokemon that was fairly small. It was fairly dark in color as well, and didn't lend itself well to his already diminished eyesight. "Damn... I'm sorry, I didn't see you there..." he told the pokemon quietly. It slowly got up, and Arik winced as he saw that the pokemon come closer to his face as he lay on the ground still. Its eyes were a little red, as if extremely pissed off or, perhaps, that was this pokemon's normal color of eyes?  
  
"Vuuuullll! Piii,Vupipulllix." the pokemon said, and the cry told him just what type of pokemon it was. He didn't really have the strength to get up at the minute, but with a pokemon that he knew could burn and set things on fire. And he'd run right over it! Sure, an accident, but pokemon could get angry in a flash, just as Arik had at Officer Jenny earlier. And sure enough, the Vulpix's tail rose up and then moved in a matter that made them seem to glow at the tips. Finally, the tips of its tails stopped and then a kind of whitish-blue fire erupted from them, merging into a sort of fireball that engulfed Arik all of a sudden, causing the soaked human to jump up in pain and yell- but he wasn't burned, really. His clothes were barely scorched, and he was actually much drier than he'd been since the other day, before Team Rocket had confronted him.  
  
"What kind of attack was that?" he asked the Vulpix, who just staggered in place somewhat before slumping to the ground again. Arik sighed, and smiled, the memory of the people that had been after him gone now as he kneels to the ground and picks up the Vulpix- he couldn't see anything wrong with it, except, perhaps, the fact that it looked extremely tired. He wasn't sure about the attack that Vulpix had actually just used on him, but this little, warm, red haired pokemon was tired as all hell. Could it have been trained, and left on its own after a lost battle? Or had it wandered into this rather unsheltered area while it was raining? "Alright, I'm getting us to a pokemon center. I think I've got enough left to get us there." he said to the Vulpix in his arms.  
  
It was kinda unusual, really. He hadn't really thought that he'd find a pokemon out here to take with him, not without battling. But he wouldn't be taking this particular pokemon without a battle at least- his pokemon and this one were all weak now, after all. After a trip to the Pokemon Center, he'd challenge it to a battle, if it didn't mind him. With a sigh, and the sudden sound of several feet stomping around in the grass fairly nearby, Arik snuck towards town again slowly.  
  
Serra and Janine were still in that place, sitting down now as they laughed. Janine, though underage, had acquired a bit of something rather unusual for trainers while she was at the gym, and she had broken it out to try and wheedle (no pun intended) information out of the Rocket girl. Both had small saucers and there was a fairly large bottle on the bround between them. The liquid in the saucers was clear, yet somewhat white, as both sipped from them. With a smile on both their faces, both held the soft redness one might associate with being flushed...  
  
And they were certainly that. Indeed, both were drunk, though Serra was more drunk at the moment than Janine, thanks to a low tolerance. They'd been telling life stories and laughing at each others' memories, crying together at times of the more painful ones that Serra had told Janine. Janine now began to soften a bit, now sporting a pleasant buzz as she listened to the now talkative Team Rocket member. Her battle with Arik the other day was something that she told Janine, and the gym leader listened carefully to that.  
  
How her family had been part of Team Rocket for a long time, and had brought her in as well. How her own mother had taught her to become a pokemon trainer, even as she had been sent to the pokemon school in Celadon City to learn as well. She had wanted to be a normal trainer, one to travel on her own without much worry. To one day defeat the gym leaders of Kanto and move on to the Pokemon League to battle the powerful Elite 4. She even wanted to become a respected trainer, which was something that was impossible as long as she was in Team Rocket.  
  
Also, she told the powerful Gym Leader how she had to battle her father with her own pokemon every 6 months, to show how far her training had taken her. She had never been allowed to leave Celadon unless with family. She'd even managed to defeat many of the Grass-pokemon trainers in the Celadon gym, but Erika's Rainbow badge had ever been elusive, even to her strong poison types that she once had. The battles with her father were the worst, though. Serra's father would have his pokemon beat Serra's pokemon so badly that not even a pokemon center could save them.  
  
Travelling to Lavender Town's pokemon tower had become something she did at least once a year, if not twice a year. Only one pokemon of hers had ever survived the battles, and she had to keep it stored in a secret pokemon PC account from her parents and Team Rocket in general, to keep it alive. She hadn't seen the pokemon for months now... her parents expected her to return to face her father again soon.  
  
"I dun' wanna battle him to the pokemon's deaths ever again! I can't do it. How can I train pokemon if they're killed by his pokemon? I try to save 'em, I really do... but he thinks they're just tools to attack and kill with. I never wanna see 'im again! Mom's no' any better!" she almost yelled, but Janine managed to keep her quiet as she moved over and put an arm around the slightly younger girl's shoulder. Janine might be a ninja, a gym leader... but she was also moved by the girl's honest feelings and words. She could tell that she was telling the truth- the alcohol often did that to those who weren't too used to it. Serra just buried her head into the gym leader's shoulder and soon Janine could feel the moisture of tears begin to soak into her gi. The girl shook again and Janine sighed- likely, she'd cry herself to sleep.  
  
Janine looked up towards the sky, searching for stars that were hidden behind the clouds that moved quickly overhead. The moon peeked out every so often, its light bringing to the trees around them a soft glow. With the girl leaning against her shoulder, she could only wonder if her own rivalry could wait? This girl needed help more than she needed a match against Arik, after all. She judged the girl in her mind- she knew that she was part of Team Rocket. And yes, she was certainly a trainer of sorts. She didn't want to be part of a gang of thieves, but had been forced into it from childhood. Her story about her father and mother was the most saddening she'd ever heard, too. If she could change, this girl could likely become very good at training pokemon... if only she could keep her pokemon away from her father's 'battles.'  
  
"Shh... Serra, try to rest. I think I have an idea, but I'll bring it up in the morning. Sleep here, and do not think about evil thoughts. Relax." Janine told her, in the softest, perhaps quietest voice she'd ever used since before becoming a trainer. The sobbing began to ebb, the sounds of the choked up girl slowly quieting before Serra actually managed to relax slowly. Janine had taken a liking to this girl, and hoped she would honestly listen and answer to what she had to say to her, in the morning. Serra hadn't told her what the pokemon was that she had managed to keep hidden from her father, but she doubted that it could really hold a candle against her own. Her curiosity was piqued, though.  
  
Finally, Serra's breathing slowed, the heaving of her chest softly falling up and down against Janine's arm. Janine looked to her, and couldn't help but to smile softly. As coldhearted as she could be, using powerful Self-Destruct type moves against her opponents, she still cared both about her pokemon and her opponent's pokemon. Unlike, obviously, Serra's father did. Her pokemon might faint from the use of such moves, but it sounded as if this girl's father would love to put all of his pokemon's life force into such attacks.  
  
She slowly moved the younger girl from where she held onto her arm, down to lay on the ground, pulling a blanket from seemingly nowhere (though really, it was simply from the pack she wore on her back, between the robe and her shirt she wore beneath) and setting it over her. They were already on two blankets that Janine had set out earlier- from experience of traveling before becoming a gym leader, she knew that the ground would take more heat from a body than the air above them would. She set about spacing out the remaining embers of the fire that had once been going quite well, the smoke dying along with the remnants of heat that were slowly cooking away to their demise.  
  
Janine lay down as well after corking the bottle of sake and setting it away safely, taking the saucers and setting them into her pack as well (the real backpack, actually, which was set nearby). With a slight sigh, she relaxed somewhat, though her eyes remained open now as she looked straight up, towards a gap in the clouds that had formed, revealing the stars above to her. She smiled slightly, her braided hair hanging at her side as she watched the clouds go past. There was not much else to do, but as she couldn't bring herself to trust the girl beside her, nor the fact that there was a chance someone or something might come this way despite the fire that was slowly dying out.  
  
The embers barely gave out any smoke, and were only an orange color that was slowly deepening to a dull red as the heat left the wood. Soon enough, her own eyes closed and her breathing slowed, and she began to meditate while in this position. It wasn't long afterwards until she too was asleep, and both girls slept side by side. One with the black jacket with the red 'R' insignia, and the other with a dark robe with purple trimming along its edges. An unlikely duo if there ever was one- a member of Team Rocket, and a Gym Leader.  
  
It was dawn by the time Arik managed to get down to Vermilion City's suburbs. And without much more than six hours of sleep in the past 72 hours, he was running on empty. The Vulpix in his arms, on the other hand, had been sleeping fitfully for the past several hours that he'd been walking. Walking through the suburbs, looking a lot like some pokemaniac that was dressed up like some pokemon that was always dirty (though, to tell the truth, that would be more like a halloween costume), he was glad it was too early for almost any pokemon trainers to actually be out and about... at least, in this area.  
  
It took half an hour for him to find the pokemon center in this part of Vermilion- turned out that he had to pass that rather large hill (almost a small mountain) that had a cave on the side. Acording to the sign he read, it was the Diglett Tunnel. Strangely, according to the pokedex which he'd finally pulled out, it was also the only place left in the Kanto region to actually find them and their evolved form, Dugtrio. He might have to train down there after a visit to the pokemon center, but first things first. He'd actually went inside far enough to find that the tunnel was a level below, only to be reached by a ladder that descended down there. He hid in the tunnel for a good hour, still unsure as to whether or not those people were looking for him or had given up the chase.  
  
Finally, he came to the door of the pokemon center, which was still closed. The hours of operation for pokemon centers, throughout the region, was 7:00am to 11:00pm. It wasn't even close to opening times, but Arik wasn't in the mood to wait. He pounded on the door with one hand, a metallic thud and shaking ringing out. This pokemon center, like most, had metal shutters on both the inside and outside, to keep the glass portions from being attacked by pokemon thieves with explosives (though enough explosives would still take 'em out), or by pokemon that might attempt to escape.  
  
At the sound of the banging, the Vulpix stirred in the crook of his arm. He smiled softly, looking to the small, red, fox-like pokemon before bringing the hand that had been hitting the shutter to the pokemon, petting its back gently to coax it back asleep. The pokemon must have been used to such treatment- it began to get drowsy again, and then its eyes closed again. Arik could feel its breathing slwo once more, even as the shutters made a soft noise before being brought back upwards- maybe it was closer to opening time than he had thought? But, if it was... why was there a Nurse Joy standing at the door, revealed to his sight as the shutters slowly slid upwards.  
  
From white heels to white stockings, up along her rather pale yet well formed legs that went up before becoming hidden by a frilly white skirt. It then slipped back to a near-form fitting suit, kinda like overalls, that ended just past her shoulders. Her arms were covered as well, with long white gloves. The look on her face, however, was not quite as charming as her body was, to tell the truth. She looked identical to the Joy he had known from Fuchsia, though his friend Joy was more often than not in much different colored uniforms (she preferred dark blue and light red over white, for instance). She was worried, very much so, as she opened the door as quickly as the shutters allowed her to.  
  
"Hurry, get in here! Officer Jenny came by hours ago and told me that you were coming, before she left for her post again.... wait, what's wrong with the Vulpix?" she asked, slowly putting a hand onto the pokemon's head lightly. She withdrew her hand quickly, realizing that there was something wrong with it. "Nevermind! Come on in, quick, and we'll get your pokemon all healed. You have an injured Dratini, right? Give me the pokeballs, and you go get cleaned up." she told him, and Arik nodded, reaching up to the pokeballs he was carrying on his jacket. He took them off and handed them to Joy before offering the sleeping Vulpix to her.  
  
"This Vulpix seems tame to me, Nurse Joy... I think it might have a trainer, but I found it wandering on Route 11." he told her, before yawning. His free hand moved up to cover his mouth as Joy took the fiery pokemon in her own arm. Arik then wandered in the direction of the pokemon trainer's rooms... but blinked, looking around before realizing that the layout was a bit different from the pokemon center he once worked at. "Sheesh... this place is all turned around!" he tells himself, even as Nurse Joy had gone behind the counter to help the pokemon. Indeed, it was- it was a layout that was opposite in design than the pokemon center he was used to working at.  
  
He walked to the other side of the counter, and sure enough, there was the hallway. With a wave to the nurse, he walked towards the only open room there was- the other rooms had closed doors. He yawned slowly again, stretching slowly even as one of the doors he passed opened behind him. He was inside the room he'd been heading towards before whoever it was had noticed him. The door was closed, and Arik started getting out of the dirty clothes. First off was the backpack, and he sighed loudly as he felt the weight leave his shoulders. He set the pack on the floor, and then off came his jacket and shirt. He zipped up the pockets on the jacket before setting it on the back of a chair. His pants soon followed, leaving him in his boxers until he went to his pack to pull out a pair of shorts, pulling them on.  
  
It took only a minute for him to fall asleep after he slipped into the bed. Almost as soon as the back of his head touched the pillow on the bed, his eyes closed and he was out like a light. His body was completely relaxed- unlike the past few days, when he'd actually been tense like none other and tired beyond any other time in his life. He had no dreams as he slept- his sleep was deep within half an hour, and remained that way for quite a while.  
  
Serra woke up the next morning to sunlight in her eyes. It took a moment for her to realize just how high in the sky it was- it wasn't quite morning anymore, was it? No indeed, mid-morning at the earliest, most likely early afternoon. She sat up, the blanket sliding down her body somewhat as she stretched slowly. Then, she blinked, wincing immediately after doing so as she felt the headache of a lifetime. "Oh... dammit..." she moaned, her left hand moving to the back of her head, rubbing gently at the black hair that was loose there. "Ouch."  
  
"Well now, hung over are we? You better lay off the sake next time, huh?" came a familiar voice that was just quiet enough to not be considered painful or loud as hell to Serra's addled mind. In response, Serra only groaned slightly and nodded just barely- that motion was almost too much for her to take, and although she hadn't eaten anything since early last night, she felt that certain motion of a rocking ship about to knock a few sailors off the bow. Janine just chuckled softly as she continued to work on some breakfast. She wasn't that great of a cook- it was a known fact among the gym leaders of Kanto that the best cook wasn't one of the female gym leaders. It was Brock, the leader of Pewter City's gym. She could make pancakes and fry up bacon, but that was just about it.  
  
"I'm making some pancakes, so feel free to eat whatever you'd like, Serra... do you remember much of what we talked about last night?" Janine asked the Rocket girl. Serra just shook her head slowly in reply, and then just lay back down again on the 'bed'. She closed her eyes again, the headache dissipating as her eyes closed once more- must have something to do with the bright light, she thought to herself, though even her own mental voice seemed muffled and difficult to hear.  
  
"Not really... I think I told you some things about myself, but other than that, I don't remember a thing." Serra told Janine. This Rocket girl was having quite a hangover, and the fact that she could remember even that much made her blush and be glad that she wasn't quite as out of it as one might think she could be. "Damn... Next time you offer me a drink, I gotta remember to say no!" she said loudly, and then groaned as she heard her own voice, too damn loud for her to take as she felt pain in her head again. Janine just shook her head and took a paper plate, setting two pancakes on it and taking it over to her new friend.  
  
"Well then, I think you remember enough. How about you come train at my gym? Leave Team Rocket and learn how to actually train pokemon, using your own skills and abilities rather than stealing from others?" Janine asks her. Serra blinked once, her eyes opening before she looked over to the gym leader in surprise. Leave Team Rocket without battling her father, her superior in the organization, in order to do so? It was tempting, but she knew that she couldn't just do that. She'd be hunted down in no time. Team Rocket might be 'on the run' while in Kanto, but they do tend to deal with rogue operatives that remain in the region rather quickly.  
  
"I... wish I could, but... my father would come after me." she says quietly, even as she takes the offered plate of pancakes from Janine. They were thin, and an almost buttery color. They looked more like crepes than anything else, really. They were buttered already, by Janine, earlier before she had handed them off to her friend. Serra smiled gratefully to the gym leader, both for the food and for the offer. "Even if I started training there, the gym might come under attack by Team Rocket. And my father has pokemon from the Johto region that I doubt even you have seen here." she tells Janine now. They were the main reason why Serra had always lost against her father- those pokemon were brutal. A psychic type that looked kinda like the Eevee evolutions, a 'Dark' type pokemon... There was no way for Serra to have been prepared for the onslaught of well trained, very powerful pokemon like these were.  
  
"My gym has never fallen to an enemy, Serra, and never will. My father, Koga, and his students as well as myself, still guard the gym. Koga comes back every so often, and he will undoubtedly come back if he knew that his gym was threatened by anyone." Janine said, smiling a little as she watched her friend have a bite of the pancake, before moving back to the fire, to flip the pancake in the pan that was for herself. Much as she'd hate to admit it (and boy, was Janine glad that Serra hadn't asked!), she had slept in and had woken up not much earlier than Serra had. "Come and train with us. Give up the pokemon that Team Rocket has given to you, return them to their original trainers if you can. Use your own pokemon and grow stronger on your own, and not by the sweat and toil of others. Only with your own training can you defeat those stronger than you, both in battle and out."  
  
Serra listened carefully to Janine's words, even through the headache that had come to the fore of her mind again. She chewed on the pancake thoughtfully, considering the words said to her. She hadn't wanted to be part of Team Rocket. No teammates she'd ever had had wanted to be her partner- they idealized Team Rocket's use of pokemon and thievery. She only wanted to be a trainer, all her life. Nothing less than that, perhaps something more. She was, as of now, a simple thief. Plain and simple. She was the bane of society. She had no friends, really. She stole from others what they had trained, grown attached to- their pokemon. Their strengths, she'd taken for her own, and for the good of an organization that dealt with pokemon as if they were simply items or tools, to be used and discarded afterwards. With a sigh, she closed her eyes as she took another bite of the pancake, chewing as she continued to think.  
  
"Take your time, Serra. There is no rush, but I would much rather have you as a friend instead of a foe. Thieves make few friends, and Team Rocket has no friends. Look in your own heart to learn the truth of this. You are not like them, this I can see for myself." the gym leader said to her quietly, and then turned back to the pancake, watching for when it would be ready for consumption. It became quiet again, save for the sound of a flock of Pidgey overhead, flying northwest over them, their soft cries nearly drowned out by three Pidgeotto that flew along the outskirts of the flock. The menacing cries of Spearow came from a nearby tree, and high above both pokemon types, a Fearow flew aloft upon great wings. They said nothing more, instead eating their breakfast (lunch, rather) in silence.  
  
The sun was nearly setting before Arik was woken up by a rather violent shaking in the bed he was in. Sleepy still, he groaned as his eyes began to open and he looked to where he felt the hand on his shoulder. It was clad in white, and he sighed softly- his instincts to get ready for a battle not needed, for once, and he looked up along the arm towards the pink haired girl's face. She was younger than the Joy he was friends with, he decided, and slowly he moved to sit up on the matress, careful of his head so as not to hit the bottom portion of the top bunk above him. "Mmm... yes?" he asked her, his eyes blinking as he got used to the waning sunlight outside that was shining inside.  
  
"Your pokemon are fine... Your Dratini has made a full recovery, but I think you still need rest. But first, come get some dinner before it gets cold." she tells him, and Arik nodded slightly, slipping out of the bed. She blushed slightly and quickly left the room- Arik had forgotten that he wasn't wearing a shirt while in bed, and he fished one out of the backpack, sliding the gray t-shirt onto himself before grabbing his dirty clothes and jacket, emptying the contents of all into his backpack. Then he went in search of the laundry facility, using the free services of the center to all trainers to start a wash of his clothes. After that, it was to the lobby he went, stretching slowly before looking around carefully. There were quite a few trainers about, he saw, and most even had their pokemon out to relax and eat as well.  
  
"Over here!" called Nurse Joy, and she had a tray on the counter with some sort of soup (looked like beef stew, at least, and smelled like it too) and some bread. Arik smiled to the nurse, and nodded to her as he walked over. Steam rose from the bowl of stew on the tray, and there were three pokeballs on the tray as well. "You'll want to feed your pokemon, too. There's some food over there that you can use, if you want." she told the tired trainer, who nodded again to her and smiled gratefully to her. "Thanks, Nurse Joy." he said, taking the tray and heading over to the empty table and waiting area. He set the tray down and then took each pokeball in his hands- he let go of the inhibitor, expanding two of the pokeballs.  
  
"Come on out!" he exclaimed, and then the halves parted, two pokemon materializing from the pokeballs. Out came Arrow and Ame, and he smiled, pulling out his second pokeball and doing the same thing, Tsai materializing alongside Ame. Tsai looked to Ame and checked her out critically- the last time he'd seen her, she had been wounded by that Raticate, after all. Arik smiled at that, and then motioned for the pokemon to come over as he went over to the pokemon food dispenser. Three bowls were set out for him to use, and so he did, filling all three up with pokemon food- they were obviously as hungry as he was, since all three dug into the food immediately!  
  
"Vuuullll!" came a cry, and then Arik felt a bit of heat against his leg. He blinked in surprise and looked down to see the Vulpix he had found out on Route 11 (an unusual place for such a pokemon, he remembered). It seemed to smile at him, and then leapt up when he had sat down in the chair, finding itself on Arik's lap. Tsai looked over to his trainer and the red pokemon on his lap, and tilted its head to the side, even as its ears wiggled a bit back and forth. Arik smiled back to the Vulpix and with his free hand not using a spoon to stir the stew, he stroked along the Vulpix's back and along one of its six tails gently.  
  
"Good to see you too, little Vulpix. Glad to see you're alright." he said, and then realized that Nurse Joy had come up over to him as he had been busy with the pokemon. He looked to her, the stew scooped up onto the spoon now hovering above the bowl, some of the broth dripping down the side of the spoon as it was held unsteadily. He was still recovering, after all, and was still pretty tired. He was also, at this point, unaware of all the stares that his Ame was getting from the other trainers in the pokemon center.  
  
"This Vulpix may as well be yours- you were right, it was once a trainer's pokemon. But, for some reason she was released by her trainer. I'd heard that some trainers were burned along Route 11 by a wandering fire pokemon, but I never suspected a Vulpix." she said, and Arik smiled a little bit as he rubbed the Vulpix's ears gently. It arched its head back and into his grasp, before he leaned forward to blow on the steaming spoonful of broth and potato- no meat in this spoonful, it seemed. The Vulpix licked his hand, and he shivered a little at the heat he felt from it. Much more than it before, it was quite warm to the touch. "She seems to have taken a liking to you. She's also contracted the Pokerus virus- it isn't anything harmful, but it might leave her more vulnerable to cold weather than usual. It should run its course within a few days, possibly a week at most, I think." she told Arik.  
  
"Thank you, Nurse Joy... I hope you don't mind if I stick around her for a while... I think Team Rocket's after me, and I think you can tell why. By the way, the next time you talk with Officer Jenny, please tell her I'm sorry, if I can't do it myself. I have a lot of sleep to catch up on." he tells the nurse, who smiled sweetly and nodded before heading back to her desk. Left alone to do as he needed, he looked over to Tsai and smiled to his first pokemon. "Well Tsai, if this Vulpix would like to join us, it looks like we have a new friend." he said, to which the Tsai jumped up and down a few times, seeming to smile. Arik was definitely glad that Tsai was a friendly pokemon. Arik looked over to Ame now, who was now finishing up with her food and glancing around slowly at all the people.  
  
"Draa....ni, tiniiidraaa!" she cried softly, and wound up around Arik's chair, hiding underneath it and the table he was seated at. She seemed to be a bit timid or at least careful, he thought, even as he set the spoon into the bowl, only the 'stem' reaching out from it as he reached down with his now free hand to rub along the Dratini's ear ridge lightly with his fingertips. She nudged upwards at the feeling of her trainer's warm fingertips, and leaned against Arik's hand. He chuckled softly, both hands now a bit full as his bowl of stew began to get cold.  
  
"You know, guys, I'd really like to eat too." he told the Ame and the Vulpix on his lap. Tsai, in the meantime, looked about slowly at the pokemon that the other trainers had out at the moment- one group included a Primeape, a Charmeleon, and a Rhyhorn. There was another pokemon there, perched on the trainer's shoulder, but Tsai had never seen one of them before. When Arik looked over to Tsai to see what it was doing, even as he heard his Arrow perch itself on the tabletop, he found himself looking over to the trainer Tsai was looking at. On the trainer's shoulder was a green-colored pokemon with a short beak and unusually small and stubby wings. It didn't have much in the way of claws, either.  
  
"What... is that?" he asked, taking his hand from the Vulpix on his lap to pull out his pokedex... only to find that he had left it in his backpack back in the room. "Damn." he said, and shrugged, using his left hand now to scoop some stew into the spoon to start eating, finally. He looekd away, to focus on his own doings. He smiled to Arrow, motioning for the small bird pokemon to come onto his shoulder, but it chose not to as it shook its head, just coming to a small bundle of itself on the tabletop. Arik shrugged slightly, smiling- this one had an attitude, for such a small pokemon.  
  
It was another 10 minutes before Arik finally finished with his meal, and he stretched slowly. Tsai, Arrow, and Ame had all fallen asleep again, and the Vulpix was jest resting. "Come on everyone... let's get back to our room, and we'll get some sleep." he said, moving to stand. His arms moved to hook underneath the Vulpix as he stood up, and then he started walking towards the room he'd left only a little while ago. With a cry of just waking up, his other three pokemon wandered off beside him towards the room sleepily. All together, they headed to the room, and once inside, the door was closed. Arik fell onto the bunk after setting the Vulpix down on the floor. Once in bed, he pulled the covers up just before the Vulpix jumped up and onto the bed. Tsai followed suit, as did Ame- the lower bunk bed was filled by the three pokemon and himself. Arrow flew up to the top bunk's wooden frame and simply relaxed there, falling asleep on the familiar material.  
  
"Well, time to go, Serra. Have you made up your mind yet?" Janine asks the girl, who had been resting most of the day. She was finally feeling well enough to move around normally around lunchtime, but now she was raring to go. Serra looked over at Janine and nodded before looking down at her own jacket. It took only another second for her to make up her mind, and her hands moved up to take the jacket in them. After a moment of hesitation, in which her hands relaxed, she tore downwards, the buttons falling off one by one in rapid succession before the jacket was ripped off of her. Finally, she looked over to the gym leader as she stood up, discarding the jacket onto the ground.  
  
"I'm gonna need some new clothes." she told Janine, who simply grinned and nodded. A small price to pay to keep someone out of trouble, Janine knew, and Serra simply smiled weakly. Retribution probably wouldn't be very far off, she thought. Her father wouldn't stand for this, once he knew that she had left without completing their agreed-upon battle rule. But when that time came, she wanted to be ready for him. And this time, he would find a match in her like none other. Serra's weak smile 'evolved' into a small grin as she came alongside her new friend, and both marched off towards Fuchsia City again- each step taking both further away from Arik's position in Vermilion City.  
  
"I kidna wish we were going after my friend though... he owes me a pokemon battle!" Janine told Serra, who laughed softly. From experience, Serra had been a part of that particular trainer's first battle- a success for him, a failure for her and her partner, unfortunately. Still, she knew the gym leader's preference in pokemon, and to be a gym leader, one required tough pokemon. She had powerful pokemon and a battling style that could be difficult to combat. Janine used poison attacks and other types of attacks to confuse and weaken her opponents before deliving the 'coup de grace'.  
  
"That kid's Dratini is pretty tough, but they're obviously pretty new to training, Janine. What kind of a challenge do you think he'd give to, of all people, a gym leader right now?" Serra replied, and Janine sighed. It wasn't that she hadn't thought about it, it was simply the fact that she'd waited for years now without the 'satisfaction' of battling her old friend. She wanted a battle now, no matter how lop-sided it would be? Janine smiled a little, and nodded to her new friend.  
  
"Good point. It wouldn't be fair to battle him until he's ready, I guess." Janine acceded, sighing once more. She felt a pat on her back and looked over to see Serra smiling- a rare occurance as of late, but now that she had finally given up on being a part of Team Rocket, she seemed almost like an entirely new person. Battling Arik could wait- Janine had work to do to help Serra train herself and pokemon of her very own.  
  
In the forest nearby, there was someone who had been watching them both all day. When he'd woken up and found his partner missing, he figured that she was simply taking care of business. But when she'd been gone for over an hour, he decided to try and find her. That was when he found both Serra and Janine sleeping. He stayed there, not worrying about his mission to find that Dratini-using trainer for the time being. He would be, by now, close to either Lavender Town or Vermilion City, and both places were covered by his fellow operatives. He watched the two, unnoticed at all as he grit his teeth.  
  
He'd been friends with Serra since they had become partners- or, at least, he thought he'd been. Jim was once a simple trainer as well, until the time, two years ago, when he was beat soundly by some kid named Gary back near the Nugget Bridge just north of Cerulean City. After that, to become stronger, he'd turned to stealing and training his pokemon harshly, in a manner that caught Team Rocket's attention. They trained him, and in turn, Jim trained his pokemon. When Jim found himself paired up with Serra, he considered her to be a challenge as well- someone he could teach to enjoy their work. But now, as he watched her walk away with the Gym Leader of Fuchsia City, he couldn't help but feel anger. Someone had to stop her! Even if he had heard her words regarding her father, the trainer who had taught him and many others how to treat and use pokemon effectively in battle and out, he couldn't condone what she decided to do about it.  
  
When they were far enough away, he moved over to the fallen, discarded jacket, and had to make a decision. Would he rat out the girl he had considered his friend to the boss? Or would he simply ignore all of this until he had to? Either way, the boss would eventually figure out what had happened, and then there would be hell to pay, both for Serra and for himself. Jim sighed and tucked the jacket away into his own pack. There was very little he could actually do, and so he took his cell phone and dialed a number, leaving a message for his superiors.  
  
Team Rocket, Kanto Division Executive Roland, Kanto branch  
  
One of our operatives has been taken into custody. Her partner witnessed the entire thing, but was able to escape without being noticed, before the police could apprehend him as well. He didn't know just which city they were headed to, but it is believed that our comrade is being taken to Lavender Town. All operatives in the area are advised to be on the look out for our operative, and to try and help her if possible. She has brown hair and eyes, is of average height and build. If she is seen, attempt to contact without putting yourselves at risk and determine if she deserves a rescue.  
  
The trainer with a Dratini has been considered to be very stealthy. It is possible that he has passed both Vermilion City or Lavender Town by this time. All operatives are now advised to look out for this trainer, whose name was reported by the same operative above to be 'Arik'. His pokemon are weak, but with the addition of that Dragon-type, not to be taken lightly without the use of Ice-pokemon. If any operative without the right pokemon find this trainer, do not engage in a battle. Attempt to stall until more operatives arrive before proceeding with the attack.  
  
The orders have been received to begin transferring personnel from our branch to the Johto branch. A dozen operatives are already on the way, with more to leave in the following week. The Dragon-gym and Dragon Cave in Blackthorne City are to be one of our objectives once we have enough operatives in the area. For now, the research for force-evolving pokemon continues on slowly, and a few possibilities have arose for targets of our efforts. Magikarp seem to respond the best, and now we are constructing an underground base near the Lake of Rage to continue our research best.  
  
End progress report.  
  
-----  
  
Author's Note: Well now, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. Personally, I find it more interesting to specialize in the characters rather than the battles. That includes the pokemon as well, actually. Everyone has their own possibilities, after all. Please, read and review. Again, any suggestions would be appreciated. Does it seem like I've started writing longer chapters than I did at first? It does to me... maybe I'm getting my writing skills back now. lol 


	5. Chapter 5

First Journeys Chapter 5  
  
by MacrossGreen  
  
Author's Note: I have to admit, there wasn't a whole lot of plot building in the last chapter. The last chapter was there to provide more background for Serra and to progress things a little more slowly. With this chapter, I'm providing training times for both Arik and Serra- I'm going to bring more details into their development, both with people and with pokemon. I'll tell you now that I don't really plan out any of the storyline or the characters that Arik meets. I go by what I think is a good idea, and if it seems like a bunch of things that I put together from the anime, I change it up as best I can. That particular instance came up in Chapter 4, when Jenny and Arik met. I was going to have Jenny apologize and then came up with the idea of pokemon poachers that they'd meet on the way to the pokemon center, but that was scrapped in favor of Chapter 4's current form. Hope you liked how it is how I ended it up, instead of my going with what I was going to do. If you remember the first season of pokemon, you'll recognize the Jenny things from Episode 2, and the poachers from episode 26 or so.  
  
4 days later ------  
  
For the next few days, Arik and his pokemon recovered from various things. Arik had been hurt all over, was muddy, dirty, and tired. His pokemon had been hurt, wounded, and in general, battered down by their first two or three days of adventuring. They were in Vermilion City as well, a port town that contained Lt. Surge's gym. Arik knew the names of the different gym leaders, as well as where their gyms were located- for him, it was as essential as taking down notes regarding his own pokemon. Measurements, weighing his pokemon, and learning what makes them do the things they do were written in his notebooks. He had two new ones now, each one a 140 page, 2-section notebook. Each section was taken up by information he had learned about each pokemon he had. The first entry was his Dratini, Ame.  
  
Ame was about 6'8" inches long, and weight almost 10lbs now. The fact that she was growing so quickly made Arik wonder just how much experience she had gained from the few battles that she had been in, as well as from before she had become his pokemon. Her diet consisted mostly of drier foods, meant to keep her warm even as her scales required her to remain damp most of the time. She had also shed her skin while staying here at this pokemon center to recover- something that Arik hadn't thought she could do. But, she had shed the skin and was bigger than before, leading Arik to believe that she was, perhaps, getting close to evolving.  
  
He wrote down the attacks that she had used so far- Wrap, Thunder Wave, and Tackle. Then he remembered the attack that had thrown Team Rocket for a loop- Twister, according to his pokedex. He wrote down how the Dratini moved when she'd used those attacks on her opponents. This information would be useful when he had the time to consider advantages and disadvantages of those attacks against different pokemon. He also took into consideration just how she reacted to attacks as well  
  
The next was Arrow. The small bird was of average size and weight for a Pidgey, but its attitude seemed to make it even more stubborn than he would have thought a small pokemon like it could be. Its' wingspan was small, but good for the pokemon's size, unlike that green bird-like pokemon he had seen the other day that the trainer had had. He wrote down just how it made its attacks, Tackle, Sand Attack... He'd have to see about it using Gust soon, however. It would make dealing with Bug and Grass-types much easier, he knew. He knew about their weaknesses, as well, and had heard that somewhere in Johto, according to his mother, there was a Flying-type gym that was perfecting a ground attack that a flying pokemon like Pidgey or Spearow could use to combat their electric weakness. It liked eating hard, dry foods like nuts, mixed in with some berries.  
  
Tsai was in the next notebook. Though it was his first pokemon, he still wasn't entirely sure about what attacks it could use. He'd heard that Nidoran, both male and female, evolve fairly young, and that after that they could be evolved from their second evolution into their third evolution forms by using a Moon Stone. He made sure to keep note of this information, of course, as well as the attacks it knew already- Peck and Leer. The pokedex told him that it should learn a move called Focus Energy after a little while, and then Double Kick, which would be useful against Rock-type pokemon, since it was a Fighting-type attack. Arik measured his horn, the length of Tsai's body, and weighed it. It was nearly average size and weight now, though it had been a bit smaller before, when he had caught it in the Safari Zone. The young Nidoran had no fear of trainers- that in itself led Arik to believe that it was very young, even now that it was nearing the average height, length, and weight as described in the pokedex. Tsai loved the softer, almost 'meatier' pokemon food that there was available, Arik found, after a bit of trial and error.  
  
Then, there was the Vulpix. Turned out that he didn't have to battle it- the Vulpix had come up to one of Arik's pokeballs one day, that he had set out, and had itself go on into it. Arik still hadn't come up with a name for it, but was certainly thinking about it as he wrote his notes on the pokemon. She was pretty strong already, despite the Pokerus virus that it was suffering from. It got tired quickly, but was otherwise fine, having no other noticable symptoms. Arik had found that it liked food that was like the kind that Tsai enjoyed as well, and he had to smile whenever he found them eating from the same bowl. The Vulpix was also of average size and weight... though, she was a bit less heavy than one might have thought, with such bushy tails. Arik had to buy a brush from a local store, along with several pokemon healing items (including Super Potions), and he had begun to take care of the Vulpix every day, brushing it twice a day, both at morning and at night. Soon, the muck came out from its hair, and the Vulpix began looking much better, both to him and the children that came by the pokemon center every so often.  
  
In fact, Ame gathered a lot of attention among the children, and could be found playing with them quite often inside the pokemon center. Arik had the chance, twice, to compare his notes with Professor Oak's own research, on all of his pokemon, and they had started to become friends of sorts. Some might have called Arik a 'pokemon watcher', what with all the information he gathered, or perhaps a 'Breeder', much as like others were called. Both took down lots of information, from observation and experience, regarding pokemon. However, Arik took this a step further, as he was a trainer, and applied it to the training he put his pokemon to while they were here.  
  
They trained out in Route 11 every day. At dawn each day, Arik and his pokemon were out jogging for a while before stopping for a rest in the tall grass. They chose to battle the Ekans and Drowzee that they could find- on more than one occasion, Arik's pokemon lost to them because of their different attacks. Drowzee's Confusion made short work of Tsai, most of the time, though sometimes Tsai did get lucky with his Peck attack, and managed to get past the psychic-type's defenses. Arrow and Ame became much stronger here, pitted against both Tsai and Arik's new Vulpix, though the Vulpix defeated both more often than Arik would have liked. The weather was good during this time- the puddles that had been left after the last rain had simply evaporated in the afternoon sun of the first day.  
  
Each night, they would return to the pokemon center. Once in a while, they were challenged on the way back by some trainer, and Arik managed to defeat them all after some well timed attacks from his own pokemon. Tsai and Arrow grew quickly, and soon they had become strong enough tha Arik began to try out new attacks that the pokedex said they could learn naturally. Tsai's body glowed and seemed to pulsate as it stored energy when ordered to use Focus Energy, and Arrow learned to flap its wings very quickly to generate small tornadoes that would slam into its opponents. The Vulpix and Ame grew stronger much more slowly, however, but it was obvious that they were becoming faster and stronger.  
  
Sometimes, Arik would be challenged to a match by Officer Jenny. Surprisingly, though they had started off on bad terms, they became friends as they battled one another. She understood now, after a battle, that Arik had told the truth. She'd also been told by Nurse Joy that he had been sorry for blowing up on her as well. Arik apologized again when she had come up to him on the bike the other day, but she had apologized as well, which was something that Arik hadn't expected. She'd been the rider of this same bike that had splashed him with water from the puddle. She used a pair of Growlithe and a Butterfree that still knew String Shot, and became a very good sparring partner.  
  
Finally, four days after they arrived in Vermilion City, a group of four trainers came up to Arik after a workout in Route 11. All four were wearing the same thing- school uniforms. Arik had seen these uniforms every morning as he jogged from the pokemon center, through the suburbs, and out to Route 11 enough to know that two of these kids were students from the junior high school. The other two looked a bit older, possibly trainers that still attended school in Vermilion, he thought to himself. They came up close, and the oldest one- a nearly bald kid that had a strip of hair spiked up along the middle of his head- came up closer as the other three just remained back a little bit.  
  
"Hey, you... wanna trade your Dratini?" the boy asked. He was probably the same age, maybe a little younger, as Arik was. The fact that he had a Dratini had made Arik into a small celebrity during his stay here in the city. He'd even been approached by a member of Lt. Surge's gym to be invited to a battle there later today. Arik had to refuse the invitation at the time, but told him that if his pokemon were up for the challenge, then he'd be there. Arik looked the boy over critically.  
  
The kid had a serious expression on his face and in his body language. He seemed to be serious about it. He wore his school jacket buttoned at the top, but unbuttoned after the first button on it. Arik shook his head slowly. "I don't even want to know what you want to trade for my Dratini. She's not for trade, sale, or stealing." he told the kid. The kid frowned, and then shrugged as he came up with an alternative. He smiled slowly, a glint in his eyes.  
  
"Then, how 'bout a battle? Three pokemon each, okay?" the kid said, and Arik considered the request. He had nothing against the kid except for the fact that he didn't really like the idea of making his pokemon battle after a training day without getting much rest. But with three others behind this kid, Arik doubted they'd just let him leave. With a sigh, Arik nodded in agreement. Fortunately, Arik had already spent much of his money to get supplies, and the rest was in the bank. This kid, if he won, would wind up with very little prize money. And since the kid was a student, Arik doubted that he'd get much winnings off of him as well.  
  
"Fine. Three pokemon each. Switch out if ya need to." Arik replied, and the kid just grinned, walking away from Arik. Arik walked away from him as well, and when they were a fair distance away, they turned to face each other. Both trainers picked out a pokeball and threw them at about the same time. "Tsai, you're up!" Arik called, even as his opponent yelled for his pokemon to come out. The pokeballs' red beam emerged as they opened up, and Arik's Nidoran came out, shaking its head quickly as it landed on the ground on all four paws. His opponent's pokemon came out, and Arik blinked in surprise as he saw it materialize. It stood upright, had two legs and two arms, as well as a tool of sorts in its right hand. There was a large skull on top of the pokemon, hiding its head from anyone who would look.  
  
A Cubone! Not good, Arik thought to himself, as he saw it spin its bone and then hold it like a sword towards Tsai. It was a ground type with massive defense. What was worse is the fact that Poison-type attack aren't very good against Ground-type pokemon. And most trainers make sure that their Cubone have at least one of their signature moves, such as Bonemerang. When the opposing trainer ordered his Cubone to attack, it charged forward- it wasn't starting with a ground attack!  
  
"Good for me... Tsai, use Leer!" he called out. His pokemon stood its ground as his eyes glowed a bright yellow as it stared down the charging Cubone, which didn't even break stride. Leer attacks lowered defense and could sometimes stop a pokemon's attack due to surprise, but a Cubone's defense was already high enough that a Leer wouldn't work too well against it. Finally, the collision occured, sending Tsai flying directly back a foot or two before landing back on its feet again, horn pointed towards the Cubone. "Alright... Tsai, Focus Energy!"  
  
The Nidoran glowed and seemed to grow larger, and then back to original size again, for a few seconds. The kid that Arik was battling grinned, and ordered his Cubone to do the same thing! It did, but just then, Arik realized that Cubone, like most Ground and Rock-type pokemon, was slow as a snail in battle. With that in mind, Arik grinned- as much like a mountain as it was, it was almost as slow, too. That could be Tsai's strength in this battle. "Tsai, use Leer!" he called out, even as the opposing trainer finally ordered another attack. It charged the Nidoran again, the bone club held high, even as Tsai's eyes glowed yellow once more. The Cubone broke stride again, faltering somewhat before pressing its attack, swinging its Bone Club attack in a sweeping motion horizontally. Arik just grinned- too low!  
  
"Tsai, jump and use Peck!" he called out, and immediately, the Nidoran leapt up and dove back down at the pokemon in front of it. The horn scored a nice hit on the Cubone, causing a red mark to appear on the Ground-type's hard hide from the strength behind the strike. It recoiled, stepping back a few feet before its trainer yelled out again. From beneath the skull, the Cubone's voice could be heard, a menacing version of its cry causing Tsai to slip back again once it landed, looking perhaps a little scared of the pokemon's Growl attack. Tsai lost its footing a little, but then seemed to shake itself into looking more resolved in this fight. It charged the Cubone without actually waiting for an order from Arik, and then scored another hit on the pokemon, its horn striking a very long, red scratch along its hide on the other side.  
  
The Cubone was thrown back from the force of this attack, a critically effective one. It landed on its back, the bone falling from its hand for a second before it had it again, using the club to bring it back to its feet. The Cubone's trainer looked on in shock for a second, then started to encourage his pokemon again, bringing it back to its feet and swinging the bone around before taking it with one hand and winding up, bringing its arm back before launching forwards, the Cubone's bone club swung with enough force to make it go airborne. Tsai wasn't ready for it when it landed, and was struck by one end of the club as it went outwards. Then, to Arik's surprise, it was thrown in such an arc as to bring the club back to the pokemon it belonged to. "Jump out of the way, Tsai!" he called out, and Tsai looked back to see the club returning. Immediately, it jumped into the sky, and then was immediately attacked by the Cubone again.  
  
It had launched itself into the air after the Nidoran, and with a dull thud, rammed its head into the underside of Tsai's body, causing it to cry out in pain. "Niiiiiidonarrrr!" it cried out, falling to its feet on the ground, immediately collapsing after the landing to the ground. Tsai was breathing very hard after that Headbutt attack, and Arik had to wonder if he should bring it back. No, he thought to himself, as his Nidoran got to its feet again. "You're doing great, Tsai! Want to come back?" he called out to it, concerned for his little friend. At the question, Tsai just shook its head and went after the now landing Cubone, leaping into the air to propel itself forward, and it kicked once, and twice, at the pokemon that was catching it's bone club. Cubone wasn't ready for the attack this time, and was knocked to one side, and then the other as it was Double Kicked. It stood its ground for a moment, then fell forward before not moving again.  
  
Tsai let out a triumphant cry and ran back over to Arik, leaping up to be caught by his waiting trainer, who was smiling. Arik caught his little Nidoran and pet it quickly, telling it that he'd done a great job. His opponent recalled his pokemon, and Arik did the same, bringing Tsai back into its pokeball. "Great job, Tsai. Now, get some rest." he told it, and then he looked over to the other trainer. That Cubone had been a huge challenge! He'd been surprised that Tsai managed to outlast it, and obviously, from the anger he could see on his opponent's face, he hadn't expected it either. With a smile on his face, Arik pulled another pokeball from his jacket after he watched what his opponent pulled from his pocket.  
  
"Go!" the opponent cried, and he threw his pokeball. Arik threw his own pokeball, and then grinned as he saw his opponent's pokemon materialize. He knew the shape of it well, and could tell what it was before it actually appeared fully. It was rounded, and an evolved pokemon. When it materialized, its main colors were a golden-yellow and a leaf green (no pun intended, again). It had sleepy-looking eyes. It was a Weepinbell! The same kind of pokemon that had melted his bike so long ago. Arik grinned and watched as his own pokemon emerged from its' pokeball. "Come on out, Arrow!" he called, and the flying pokemon materialized in the air, flapping its wings as it gave a cry.  
  
The spectators- Arik's opponent's friends, were surprised by the events that they had seen already. An obviously much stronger and tougher Cubone had been defeated by a Nidoran! And now, the roles were reversed. Arik's pokemon was a Flying-type, and had an advantage on the evolved Grass-type pokemon that their friend had sent out. Even the trainer of the Weepinbell knew that, even with its experience advantage, that this would be a tough battle. With that in mind...  
  
"Weepinbell..." Arik told himself, before calling over to Arrow with an order. "Sand Attack!" he told it, and then the opponent yelled something to his pokemon. Arrow swept in fairly close to the ground and to the immobile Weepinbell. Weepinbell was somewhat slow in attacking in battle, but it actually couldn't move around much. It was practically a sitting Farfetch'd while in battle. Arik had learned a few things about Grass-types like Weepinbell, but there was no way to take advantage of one's possible mobility when out in a field. Arrow produced a gust of wind that kicked up a bunch of sand, even as the Weepinbell spat out a cloud of spores that mixed in with the sand. The heavier sand took over, forcing the powder to fall back towards the pokemon that had sent it out.  
  
The Weepinbell's eyes shut as the Sand Attack hit- it wouldn't get afflicted with paralysis from its own spores, actually, but the sand hurt almost any pokemon's eyes and would keep them from seeing well. "Good! Now, Gust attack!" Arik called to his Pidgey, which flapped its wings a bit faster, rising higher into the sky before stopping its flapping for a split second. Then, it swept its wings forward quickly, a tornado of air and some grass quickly sweeping in towards the immobile Weepinbell. It opened its eyes just in time to see the attack, barely, and the look of shock on the pokemon's 'face' was priceless as it was blown away several feet. It was knocked onto its back as the tornado pased on, dissipating a little further off. It cried out in its low voice, a bit of pain evident in its cry as it propped itself up again.  
  
Weepinbell's trainer called out to it, and the same vines that had managed to get it back up onto it's belly that it rested on while upright went on the attack, darting straight towards the flying pokemon overhead and not too far away. "Tackle attack!" Arik cried out, and the Pidgey darted in fast towards the Weepinbell it was up against. Though not a powerful attack, thanks mostly to the size differential between the two pokemon, Arrow was too fast for the Weepinbell's vines to catch even up close, and after it rebounded off of the Weepinbell's face, where it had impacted but not budged the grass pokemon much, it flapped its wings quickly, kicking up another Sand Attack!  
  
With its eyes closed again, Weepinbell withdrew its vines to keep them from flailing around wildly as it cried out from the sting of a point-blank attack of sand in its eyes. Its trainer yelled out an order, and it wasn't long before the Weepinbell managed to come up with a counter attack aimed high- a spitwad of black, steaming Acid was shot from the Weepinbell's mouth, and Arrow easily dodged it. The memory of such a thing came back to Arik quite vividly now as a result of such actions, and then he grinned. "Gust again!" he called out to Arrow. Again, it rose into the air to attack, even as the Acid attack fell to the ground and burned away the grass there as a result. The tornado formed and was blown into the Weepinbell, knocking it away once more to right about where its trainer was.  
  
The Weepinbell groaned again, this time unable to get up, and it went down for good. Arrow gave its own triumphant cry and flew in cartwheels in the sky, even as Arik praised it. Too bad the Pidgey didn't really care what Arik said to it, and as Arik attempted to get it to return, beam after beam of red light emerging from the pokeball, he missed each time. The trainer he was battling laughed as he watched what was going on, and then threw out his next pokemon. "Come on out!"  
  
The pokemon that materialized was one that Arik couldn't quite figure out. It looked kind of familiar, but it was a pokemon that was very, very different from the ones he had seen in the pokemon center. It looked, barely, like a Fearow. But it was very different, even if it was of a somewhat comparable size. It was silver-colored, all over. This pokemon had a metallic sheen all over, and when it flew, it was a bit slower than most birds seemed to be. The underside of its wings looked to be a dull purple in color, and its legs and talons looked about the same as most other bird pokemon... except they looked like they were razor sharp and made of metal. Arik had heard of Steel-type pokemon before. They'd been discovered not too long ago when Magnemites and Magenton were found to be resistant to more attack types than any normal Electric-type was.  
  
The only problem with this was that no weaknesses other than Ground-type attacks had been found by anyone he'd talked to. And the fact that this was a Flying-type that was probably a Steel-type as well... Ground attacks don't affect Flying-type pokemon. So, what could do any damage to this pokemon? "Meet Skarmory, a rare pokemon from the Johto region! I traded my Wartortle for this pokemon, and he is one powerful guy. I haven't met a single Gym Leader able to defeat it yet." the kid taunted, bragging about his choice of trade. A Skarmory, huh?  
  
Arik gritted his teeth as he watched this large, powerful looking pokemon as it glided overhead before circling back to head towards its trainer again. Even Arrow had begun to simply hover in place as it watched the much larger bird fly, and when the Skarmory screeched out its own cry, Arik had to wince from the metallic scraping sound that was about as bad as fingernails on chalkboards. Then, Arik started to rack his brain for anything he knew that could help out in this situation. There was only one thing he knew that might work, but then again, who knew if it would or not? "Arrow!" he called out, and then pointed at the Skarmory as he called out an attack. The trainer across from him laughed and called out an attack for the Skarmory to use. The two birds, one miniscule compared to the other, darted towards one another, and the third round began.  
  
Same day, different city   
  
It took only 2 days for Janine and Serra to return to Fuchsia City. Along the way, they got even closer and became good friends. Serra threw her cell phone into the water to the east of route 12, watching as it became harder and harder to see after she had thrown it over the cliff and into the ocean. Then it was gone, a silent (to them) splash. She looked at the pokeballs she had in hand, the four pokemon she had kept from Team Rocket that the organization had given her in order to have a chance against a dragon-type pokemon. They trained together, Janine teaching Serra how to raise her pokemon with care as they walked and talked.  
  
Once they arrived at the pokemon center in Fuchsia City, she went onto the Trainer's PCs that were available to all, and posted on the internet the two Ice-type pokemon that she had- a Cloyster and a Seel. It was obvious that they were stolen, and if they were not claimed, then she would release them into the wild. There was a Raticate and a Machoke as well that she had been given. She set them into her personal PC pokemon folder, and then withdrew her only remaining pokemon from the older days, when she had managed to keep this pokemon alive, despite the best efforts of her father to destroy it. With a smile on her face, she went with Janine from the center and to the gym.  
  
In the next two days, they put into motion the training that Janine had taught her. Serra worked with her pokemon, becoming friends with it again after a long time of not seeing it. She and her Arbok trained together, working to become faster and stronger. She sparred against the other Gym Trainers, and found that she was not as weak as she once thought she was. Her Arbok managed to defeat even Psychic-type pokemon thanks to its Bite attack. In fact, Janine had a challenger that had been waiting upon her arrival for the past few days that she was gone, and Serra proved herself by defeating the trainer in a one-on-one battle.  
  
The two became inseperable in this time. Janine and Serra trained together and Serra learned many things. She even taught Janine a trick or two regarding how to bring out a pokemon's true strength, to continue with a fight even after a powerful attack that her pokemon were weak against. Together, the two trainers learned much from one another. They trained with the other trainers in the gym as well, practicing their pokemon's respective abilities against one another, and then with one another as they battled, to see how the different combinations of pokemon would work out.  
  
They would often be found battling together, pointing out possible combinations of attacks to help with Janine's battling against those who would be coming to challenge her for her badge. At dawn, both trainers woke and went out behind the gym, into the hills, to train in 'solitude'... even if both were there. Serra and Janine worked with their pokemon to improve their speed and stamina, because it was that which most pokemon lack in the face of their most feared weakness- Psychics. At night, they would all attempt to teach their pokemon newer attacks. Serra managed to teach her Arbok how to spit Acid, after some instruction from Janine and her own Arbok.  
  
On the last morning, a trainer came by the gym... one not here for a badge, but to pick up two pokemon that he'd lost. After a session on the internet to determine that this trainer indeed had his pokemon stolen from him, it was confirmed. Serra went to the Pokemon Center alone, and had the two pokeballs with the two pokemon in them teleported to her. Then, she went back to the gym, holding one pokeball in each hand, and handed them to the waiting trainer.  
  
"There you are!" Serra said, smiling as a trainer she had just met took two pokeballs from her. The trainer was confirmed as having had two water type pokemon stolen from him- a Seel and a Shellder. The young man was very happy to find his pokemon, even if the Shellder had been evolved. Serra was... happy. She looked over to Janine, who was smiling just as much as Serra was doing. It was as rewarding as winning a pokemon battle when one managed to reunite a trainer with long-lost pokemon. It was something that didn't happen often, of course, but when it did, it was a great event.  
  
"Never thought I'd see the day when I give pokemon away, instead of taking them... I like this better, I think." she told the gym leader, and Janine laughed. The past few days had seen quite the change in her friend. Instead of beating herself up over every little thing and living in the past, she now lived day to day and for the future. And today, Janine had a gift for her friend so she could actually go ahead and find her future.  
  
"Quite so, Serra. Oh, and by the way, I received an e-mail from Arik... you remember him, I think." she said, and Janine grinned to Serra. "He's in Vermillion City! Somehow, he made it past all your old friends in Team Rocket. He's been there for more than a week... he is not the type to simply stay in one place for no reason. This, I know very well. He said that he would be there for a few more days. Here!" and with that, she tossed a small parcel over to Serra. "There are some pokeballs and a pokedex in that. Go be a trainer, but go get to Arik while you're doing so. Have your battle, and train with him. I want to battle you both now."  
  
Janine grinned still as she saw Serra catch the small package, but the shock was obvious on her face. Serra's face looked like she'd just seen a ghost, but of course, she was just getting over the fact that she'd just been given the okay to go and do what she's always wanted, even if the permision was from her own family. To travel and enjoy life, catching pokemon, battling gym leaders... The brunette blinked, and then blinked again, one hand rising to draw her fingers against the moisture that escaped her eyes. She was crying? But she wasn't sad... not this time. She was happy beyond words, and Serra smiled as the shock left her. She stepped up to Janine, and was given a hug by the gym leader.  
  
"Go on when you're ready, Serra. But if you want to catch up with Arik, you had better do so quickly. He is much faster than you are at this point, and he has one hell of a lead on you. He's a good guy, but you better be careful, since you did not meet under the best circumstances, after all." Janine advised her. Leave it to an old friend to try and make friends between enemies, Serra thought to herself, even as she wrapped her arms around Janine and hugged her back tightly. The ninja girl was caught by surprise, but smiled warmly and hugged back just as much for a sec before she found herself losing air in her lungs. "Hey... too much!" she managed to say, and both of them giggled as the hug was dissolved.  
  
"I'll send him an e-mail that'll tell him you're on the way, Serra. I'll tell him everything, so I don't think you'll have to worry about receiving a bad second meeting with him." Janine said, and Serra nodded, wiping away the tears in her eyes with a smile on her face. Serra needed to battle someone who had defeated her already. It was practically a necessity that she battle him once more, to show that she wouldn't cheat or lie. She didn't necessarily want to beat him, but to become a little more like him. She had to admit, she had admired how close he'd been to his pokemon, how that Dratini of his had launched itself at Jim, her partner in Team Rocket at the time, to keep him from hurting its trainer.  
  
"Yeah... I need to apologize to him, in person, too." Serra said quietly, so that only Janine could hear. Janine nodded, and then handed Serra a Gift Card for the PokeMart wort about $50.00. "Huh... what's this for?" Serra asked the gym leader, who just smiled a little. Janine wasn't known for her generosity, most of the time. But she and Serra had bonded a bit, and this was something that was often done for new trainers just setting out on their own, so they could be ready for what lie ahead.  
  
"The gym does this for all new trainers. Our resident pokemon researcher at the lab is out at a conference in Johto, so I get to hand out pokemon and supplies to the new trainers. These were originally for a trainer that never made it to the lab a while ago." Janine explained. The trainer had moved from Fuchsia before new arrangements could be made between his family and the lab. So, they'd sent the extras over to Janine. And now, they'd finally be given to someone who could put them to good use. "Now, go get ready, Serra. There's not too much time before the PokeMart closes for the night." she said now. Serra nodded in response, and then hurried off towards the entrance of the gym. After a moment, she was outside.  
  
The door was immediately locked afterwards. "Get back to training, everyone!" she commanded, and Janine went to the back as the sounds of pokemon and trainers alike began the dilligent training that had been halted the past few days in preparation for this moment. To Serra, the doors would remain locked. She had left a note for the girl to read inside the package that she'd been given, stating that from now on, she would need to travel on her own, unless she made her own friends outside the gym. Janine had given her a possibility in Arik. She could meet with him if she wished to, or find her own path.  
  
The gym leader had a feeling that she would see Serra again only when she saw Arik again. She went to her computer and logged onto the internet. She pulled up her e-mail system and deleted the spam she found in the bulk mailbox, and then composed a letter to Arik. She told him what was going on, that Serra was the girl who was part of the duo that had attacked him to try and take his Dratini. She told him that she'd given up on Team Rocket, and to stay in Vermilion for a few more days- if the girl wasn't there within four days, then do as he'd like. Janine sent off the e-mail, and then sighed before calling up the police station. Someone had to let them know that Team Rocket was still at their evil deeds, even at a lesser rate than they had been working at in the past.  
  
Same day, different part of Fuchsia   
  
Serra had opened the package upon walking out from the gym. She'd heard, and expected it, when the doors had locked behind her. She couldn't blame Janine for doing as she had done, to keep her out from the gym now. If she'd been allowed to stay much longer, Serra would likely stay for a good long time, and if that happened, she rather doubted that she would leave before Team Rocket would find her. It was a surprise that she hadn't been found yet, actually.  
  
She headed over to the pokemart, and spent the money on items, a backpack, and a new jacket. Once done, she headed towards the pokemon center for the night. She needed to decide what to do, but going to meet with that kid with the Dratini sounded like a good plan to her. Apologizing to him would be a good start, but training with him might be even better than just that. There was something about that kid that seemed to be... what's the word? Strong. Likable. Possibly something that she could learn. There was not a whole lot that she could do on her own. There was power in numbers, power in training. She had an Arbok to her name. This one pokemon was strong, but not strong enough, she knew, even with the past few days of training it almost non-stop.  
  
But one pokemon can be defeated by many. That is how Dragon-type pokemon fell to strategy before ice and dragon-type attacks were found to be very effective against them. The same could be said of any powerful pokemon, even an Alakazam or any legendary pokemon. If one pokemon was to stand against six without fail, it would be without peers. However, there's always someone better, and a pokemon stronger. There has never been a universally superior pokemon, and there are, after all, more being discovered practically everyday... or so the magazines Serra's read said that.  
  
Finally reaching the pokemon center, she checked in at the counter and headed to the room she was given. She'd rest for the night before heading out towards Vermilion City. She knew better than to get on the computer. Since she had left Team Rocket, she hadn't met with any of her ex-coworkers (a very good thing, of course). But if she even hinted at herself being anywhere, her father would likely pick up the 'scent' and start a full out search for her. And if that happened before she had a chance to raise more than just her Arbok, she'd be out of luck. So, she did the next best thing. She wrote two letters. One was to Janine, which held her thanks and the password to her secret PC file so that if the owners of the two remaining pokemon in there come to pick them up, she could give them to 'em. The other was... to her father.  
  
The Letter   
  
Dear Father,  
  
I hope you are well. I should tell you that I have become fed up with our rules that you forced upon me all my life, about leaving Team Rocket. I have left Team Rocket, finally, and I will not go back. I have met people that I can actually care about and have friends! Two things that I sorely lacked when I was younger. You know I have never wanted to be a thief, a criminal. Yet you forced me into it, which prompts me to ask, 'Why!'  
  
I love you both, but please, I will contact you when I am ready. I shall defeat you the next time we meet. And we will end these battles that you force me into, once and for all. You will not kill my pokemon again, this next time. I will not stand for such things any longer. My trips to Lavender Town, though you never approved, were to go to the Pokemon Tower. I apologized to my departed pokemon, pokemon that you killed! I cannot forgive you for that, father, though you are misguided in your ways. I hope, one day, we may see eye-to-eye and we can talk about how wrong you are to use pokemon as if they were simply to be used and not cared for. A pokemon, I have learned, even under your tutelage, will respond better to motivation, to friendship, and to sacrifice, if you are more their friend and not like an owner to them.  
  
Pokemon have lives, just as humans do. If you treat them badly, they are hurt emotionally. And yes, both people and humans have emotions. Something you have forgotten, I think. When you killed my pokemon and I cried, you comforted me by saying you would get me new pokemon to train. And then you would kill them too, in our next battle. Enough! This chain must be broken! If it is not, then eventually I would simply cease to be part of the family. Mother's understood this before, though she has always been afraid to say so. You have never understood it, thanks to your lust for power and money. Stealing and destroying the weak is not the way to gain respect or power over others.  
  
Team Rocket was defeated two years ago by a trainer. A single trainer. If one trainer can defeat Team Rocket, what chance do you think you have against every trainer in Kanto, if such a thing can occur? Against even a union of all the gym leaders and gym trainers together! And if the Elite Four themselves joined in to finally disband Team Rocket once and for all- do you think that it is impossible? Certainly, it is impossible for all trainers to band together for a common cause, but enough can join to make Team Rocket in the Kanto region gone for good. And one more thing, father... When I defeat you, you shall resign your position in Team Rocket and lead a non-criminal life! This I swear. Still, I love both you and my mother. I am not proud of what I have done before in my life... but I will be proud of what I will become.  
  
Love,  
Serra  
  
Back to the Pokemon battle   
  
"Skarmory! Use Steel Wing!" the trainer before Arik commanded, and Arik winced as he saw the large bird swoop in towards Tsai. Arrow had lasted only a few exchanges before actually being struck by the Steel Wing attack from Skarmory. But those exchanges had been just enough. Arrow had snuck in four doses of Sand Attack on the Skarmory, and its eyes were so filled with sand that seeing in general had to be difficult for it. But Arrow had been knocked out, and Arik sent out Tsai again. Fortunately, he had found that when the pokemon came down to the ground to sweep its razor-sharp wing down to attack, that it had some trouble finding its mark. Not only that, but Tsai's Double Kick attack had left a small dent along its back.  
  
"Tsai! Double Kick!" he called out now, and Tsai moved from where the Skarmory was aiming to right underneath it, jumping up to slam first one foot, and then the other, into the underside of the now startled flier. The Skarmory gave a cry in pain and then gained altitude afterwards to escape the pokemon that was now staring at it from the ground. The kid across from him simply smiled smugly. Their crowd was gone- the students had homework to do, as did, most likely, the student across from him that he was battling. He figured it wouldn't be much longer before his Skarmory did in Tsai and whatever other pokemon he would decide to use.  
  
"Tsai, get ready!" he told his Nidoran, and it toughened up a bit, getting its nerve back. It was still breathing hard, still hurt from its last battle against the Cubone before. It shivered, its body coated with sweat that dripped from its horn and muzzle. Arik needed to recall Tsai before it was too late... and he smiled a little, knowing just when to do it. The other trainer called out to the Skarmory, and then it swooped down again at Tsai. This time, its wing was not being used- it looked like a peck attack. "Tsai, return!" Arik called, holding out the pokeball and drawing his pokemon back and out of the fight just before the Skarmory could get the strike in.  
  
"Alright... Kiri, go!" he called, and Arik sent out his Vulpix. He'd just come up with a name on the spot, and threw the pokeball. The pokemon materialized and gave its soft cry before looking up to the much larger bird pokemon that was slowly struggling to regain altitude after its abortive attack. "Ember attack!" he called out, and the Vulpix fired off its flames at the pokemon as it rose. There was no way for it to dodge, and so the pokemon took the damage right in the 'breadbasket', so to speak. It cried out in pain, moreso than it had when Tsai had struck it with the Double Kick. Arik would have to write this down later: other than Ground-type attacks, Fire and Fighting-type attacks could work well too.  
  
The Skarmory's hide blackened from the attack, and as it rose higher finally, it let out another cry of pain as the blackened part of its hide expanded a bit. The pokemon was burned! Arik grinned slightly, even as his opponent gave the Skarmory a command. It was a command that stunned Arik, as it went to the ground and sat on its haunches, eyes closed, and it fell asleep. The kid had told it to rest! The burn wouldn't affect it now, he knew, as he saw it regenerate its health immediately. The blackened marks on its body? Gone. Now, however, Arik knew it would give him some time. "Ember again!" he called out, and Vulpix replied again, sending out flames to scorch effectively against the pokemon's body.  
  
The pokemon was slowly getting fried- overheating, really, since it had a metal body on the outside but not the inside. The inside was... well, who knew? The pokemon was from Johto, after all, and was one that Arik hadn't ever seen before. Arik didn't know a thing about its insides, but obviously the fire was having an effect on the pokemon. "Keep using Ember!" he told Vulpix, who kept up the flames. The Skarmory just slept there a while longer. Then, finally, it woke up and started to flap its wings. It was too late, however, as it slumped over and collapsed on the ground after a wave of exhaustion from the heat swept over and through it.  
  
The student watched astonished, and then recalled the burned pokemon to its pokeball- which was also strange-looking to Arik. It wasn't a standard ball, obviously. "Alright, ya win." the student said, and then immediately ran away before giving Arik any of the money that was standard from such a win outside of tournaments. Arik shrugged, and smiled, recalling Kiri. The Vulpix vanished in a beam of red light that engulfed it, and finally he started towards the pokemon center. This had been a long day of training, and he stretches as he heads back into town. Maybe he'd go and get himself something to eat today... a Burger King, maybe? It sounded good, at least.  
  
The next day   
  
Arik was having a great dream... too bad that when he woke up, he couldn't remember it! He sighed softly, realizing that it was well after dawn once he saw the light streaming in through the window from nearly the top of it. With a sigh, Arik slipped out of bed and to his feet, leaning forward before getting to his feet. "Well guys, guess I'm a little late this morning, huh?" he said, talking to the pokemon that were in their pokeballs still. He'd written down his notes that he'd learned last night about a Skarmory, and sketched it out next to the sketch he'd made of that green-colored bird from a while ago. "Well, let's go get you guys some breakfast... not to mention myself." he said, and then he chuckled softly, letting each one loose from their pokeball before setting them back onto the latches on his jacket. He slipped on his shirt and the jacket, as well as switching out of his shorts and into his pants, and then his shoes were on again.  
  
In less than 5 minutes, he and his pokemon were walking out of the room and down the hall to the lobby. After few more minutes, he had bowls with the pokemon's food in them set down and they were all eating. Kiri and Tsai from the same bowl, Arrow from the very small bowl, and Ame from a normal sized one. There wasn't much else to do at the moment, and it was far too early to actually give Professor Oak a call. Then he remembered that the Professor was away from Pallet Town today, and would be for a week for a conference in the Johto region. So, telling him about that Skarmory and the green bird-like pokemon was out of the question for a while longer. Anyway, at least he would leave him a message.  
  
He did just that, sending Professor Oak an e-mail instead of a voicemail. Arik sighed when he saw something in his e-mail that wasn't spam. Several things, actually. One was a notice as to a Pokedex upgrade that could be received from any pokemon researcher. Another was an e-mail from his Dad, who was busy helping set up the Magnet Train that would span from Goldenrod City in Johto, where his parents worked, all the way to Saffron City. It said that he was hoping to come back home soon, and that Dad wanted to take him to Johto! Arik blinked in surprise at this information, but he shook his head slowly. Going to Johto would be great... but Arik wanted to get some badges here. He was already officially in the hunt for them in the Kanto Pokemon League.  
  
So, he wrote his Dad an e-mail in return. Basically, he told him that finally, he had caught some pokemon from the Safari Zone and had caught two more outside of it. They were training on Route 11, just outside of Vermilion City, and that getting to Saffron City would be easier than getting back there. He also told his dad about the problems he'd had with getting around thanks to Team Rocket. He warned his dad that because of the Dratini that he'd caught, that he was being sought after by them.  
  
A trainer came into the pokemon center after a few more minutes, but Arik didn't bother looking yet. He sent off the e-mail and then opened the last e-mail he found that wasn't spam. He deleted the rest of the mail while he read the last one. It was from Janine, surprisingly... but even more surprising was the news she had for him. She was sending the girl that had attacked him, part of Team Rocket, to him to apologize and travel with?! Arik wasn't too sure what to think about it though. She had ground his face into the ground with the back of her heel. She'd attacked him with pokemon in a numerical advantage- her team's advantage, that is. Four to three, and somehow he managed to pull out the win.  
  
Then again, Arik wasn't the kind of trainer that held a grudge for long. But he was the kind that would keep his trust away from those who had attacked him for no reason. She'd have a lot to do before he could trust her very much, but he would give her a chance. He wrote that in his response to Janine... and that he would wait for her here, too, for a few more days. Four more days at most, though he really wanted to be going sooner than that.  
  
He stood up and headed for the door after logging off of the PC, making sure none of his settings and passwords remained. Arik smiled as he walked to the door, passing by a platinum-haired woman who seemed to simply be looking around before walking to the counter. She and Nurse Joy had some words, and then the platinum haired woman immediately walked out of the pokemon center and walked after Arik, who was oblivious to the fact that he was being followed.  
  
Back in Fuchsia, same day   
  
Serra had set out earlier in the day- unfortunately, today was the very last day for the Safari Zone to remain open. Pokemon had already been set loose from the Safari Zone, so anyone who decided to try and capture pokemon there would likely only find the most common or the most rare types. She was out along Route 15 now, moving quickly. Janine had given her some pointers on quicker routes through the other routes. She'd also provided some good ways of walking faster and quieter, and Serra had decided to use these ways. They were the first things one learned as a ninja, other than balance and such. She wasn't a ninja, but the steps that she'd been given gave her plenty of speed anyway. No wonder Janine had gotten past her and her partner without them knowing!  
  
Serra smiled, scooting through the grass as quickly and quietly as she could. But was she surprised when she found herself face-to-face with a pokemon she hadn't seen in the longest time. Four legged, hairy, and looking like one of the strongest physical pokemon ever found on the face of the earth. Horns that looked like they'd seen plenty of battle. And a few scars along its massive torso. Three small circular 'gems' rested along the pokemon's muzzle. Three tails flailed around behind it slowly, knocking away any flies that might have been following it. She recognized it immediately.  
  
"Wha... wha....a... a Tauros..." she said under her breath, looking the pokemon in the eye as she watched the pokemon that wasn't really as tall as she was. It was, however, heavier than she was, most definitely! She shivered slightly as the pokemon stared her down, causing her to step back for a second, and then she got her nerve back. Finally, she threw her pokeball. "Arbok, go! Use Glare!" she called out, and out came her pokemon. The purple scaled pokemon emerged and immediately attacked, its eyes turning a neon blue. The same color erupted in an aura around the Tauros, and it was stuck in place, preventing any sort of counter-attack.  
  
"Poison Sting!" she told Arbok, who had moved back to her side now. The Arbok let out a little cry and then opened its mouth wide. A bunch of needle-like projectiles flew from its fangs and out towards the now immobile Tauros. Each one struck and caused the large pokemon to fall backwards, nearly falling over its own legs. Finally, Serra grabbed a pokeball and expanded it with a touch to the indicator button, and then let it fly at the Tauros. It connected and the large pokemon was drawn into it. The ball hit the ground and immediately started rocking back and forth. It was fighting like crazy, wasn't it?  
  
"Get ready, Arbok... use Poison Sting again if it escapes the ball." she told it, and the Arbok nodded. Both watched the ball rock back and forth- once, twice, three times... the indicator light began to die, and then it flashed again as the ball rocked a fourth, and then a fifth time. It finally died after a moment longer, and she sighed as the light went off and the ball stopped rocking. Serra smiled and walked over to the ball, her Arbok at her side as she picked it up and minimized the pokeball, setting it on the belt she was wearing. Then she turned and hugged the serpentine pokemon, smiling. "Great job, Arbok!" she told it.  
  
The Arbok leaned over and tickled her ear with its tongue, and Serra giggled a little bit at the feeling. "Hey now, watch it there... That tickles!" she said, smiling widely as she pulled out her Arbok's pokeball to recall it. Having done so, she just grinned. One new pokemon! And this was a strong one to begin with, too... she'd have to remember to keep it away from sight if possible. Surprise was always a good thing, after all. With that little problem dealt with, she started off along the route again. Her fast walking was taking a turn for the speed now, moving even faster than she had been, earlier. Her spirits were high, her pokemon had just made her able to catch a new pokemon, and as she came across an area with a lot of glittering sights in the air, she found herself unable to continue along the route that Janine had told her about.  
  
"Oddish..." she muttered. Or maybe it was a Gloom, she'd seen some when she was walking around this route once before. Either way, it was daytime, and they were asleep. With a small grin, she moved along off to the side, moving out of range of the pokemon's powder radius. Once out of there, she continued along the route again, moving fast. It took almost half the time it had taken before to get to Route 14, and there was most of the day still ahead of her!  
  
"Thank you Janine!" she said to herself, and found herself continuing on north now along Route 14. There wasn't much else to do when you stick to the forest, since most other trainers stayed along the route itself while battling or training. Serra was enjoying this traveling lifestyle that pokemon trainers always managed to have, as they moved about to get their gym badges and such. It was about time she had done something for herself, and not for her father, or Team Rocket. She remembered that she was heading to Vermilion City for a reason, of course, but she was actually wanting to do it. Maybe now she could actually do what she'd want to do from now on. With that in mind, she just kept on going.  
  
Later that day, in Vermilion City   
  
Arik had gone to the city today, needing to find something new to do. He was walking along the docks when he remembered that he needed to head on over to the gym, and he smiled as he walked along the sidewalk in that direction. Strangely enough, the sidewalks were practically empty and the streets only had a little bit of traffic. He shrugged slightly, wondering if there was something going on somewhere, but he couldn't hear a thing that might mark a festival or some sort of parade.  
  
It only took ten minutes of walking for him to find his way down to the gym, and Arik smiled a bit. Lt. Surge's gym was known for its' electric power. If the city ever had a black out, Arik had heard that he would lend his pokemon's electricity to those places that require it, such as the hospitals and pokemon centers. His entire gym was like a miniature power plant (unlike the large one north of Lavender Town, which was being completely renovated)! He came to the door after he walked around the building (one side had a huge tree in the walk way), and he pushed it open. Once inside, there was a pair of trainers in khaki in the middle of the room. There were a bunch of barrels as well, for some reason, and he could hear the electric hum of some sort of device further in the gym.  
  
"Welcome to the Vemilion Gym!" the one on Arik's left said, stepping up towards him. There were pokemon statues to either side of the doorway, with a list of trainers that had managed to defeat Lt. Surge in the past year. There didn't seem to be too many names on the lists, actually, and that didn't really surprise Arik in the slightest. He looked back to the trainer, and found that both of them had come up to him rather close. They both wore sunglasses, and he couldn't see their eyes or much of the intensity that were hidden behind them at the same time.  
  
"Ah... thanks. My name's Arik, I was invited here yesterday, but I got roped into a pretty long battle and couldn't make it. So, here I am today." he told the man, who nodded slightly. Obviously, this trainer knew who he was, though they'd never met before. Therefore, he must have been the one who had invited him into the gym. Arik waited for a moment, looking to the older gentleman on the other side who remained silent throughout the proceedings.  
  
"Ah yes, the trainer from the pokemon center with the Dratini. My name's Horton, and this is Mr. Gregory. The other gym trainer is out sick today, there seems to be a widespread flu going around the city these days. I asked you to come by in case you were interested in battling for a badge against Lt. Surge... would you happen to be interested in such? Even if you're not, we'd be happy to train with you, if you'd like." the trainer asked, but before Arik could answer him, the door opened behind him, and Arik stepped out of the way.  
  
Into the gym stepped a woman who was dressed very different from the normal person in these parts. She wore a black kimono, and her platinum colored hair was a stark contrast. She came inside a few steps, and then stopped, looking from one trainer to the other, before looking to Arik. She took a long look at him before smirking slightly. She looked smug, for a woman who struck Arik as being in her mid twenties. The woman wore a pair of golden earings that looked like crescent moons in her ears, and she just stared at Arik for a moment. Arik watched her eyes, wondering why she was simply staring at him like this. Finally, she spoke, and it was something that he didn't expect to hear.  
  
"You... you are the dragon trainer?" she asked him in a clear, calm voice. Arik nodded slowly, unsure of what to say. He hadn't ever taken that title before, but he did have a dragon type pokemon with him. What else was there for him to say? No? That'd be lying, of course. The woman nodded to herself, and then shook her head disdainfully. "I see. You are far too young to be raising dragon-type pokemon, child. How did you come across such rare pokemon?"  
  
The two gym trainers stepped away now, resuming their places among the metal barrels further in the gym as the woman spoke with their invited trainer. Arik just watched this woman carefully, wondering what her problem might be. "A Dratini, though a dragon, is still a pokemon, ma'am. And she is a good friend of mine now. We've saved one another from danger before, and I suspect we shall continue to do so for quite some time into the future as well. I found her in the Safari Zone, which I believe is closing today." he replied now, speaking quietly. She seemed to have an air of disapproval in her glance and in the way she was speaking down to him, and Arik resented that- she didn't know him.  
  
"My name is Clair, child. Unlike this quaint gym here in Kanto, I am from the Blackthorn City Gym, in Johto. I heard from Professor Oak that a Dratini had been found in this region, and I decided that I needed to investigate. I trust that even a boy as young as you has heard of the Blathorn City gym?" she commented, and Arik had to fight down an instant dislike for this woman that was growing stronger by the minute. He had to calm himself, something that wasn't that difficult- she hadn't broached the breaking point... yet.  
  
"My name is Arik, ma'am. And yes, I have heard of the Dragon Gym in Blackthorn City, thanks to Professor Oak as well. What brings the Gym Leader of that particular gym to come all this way... surely not to simply meet me, was it? I am honored." he said, bowing low to the gym leader. Horton had heard this information as well (Gregory, however, did not. The electric hum in the gym screwed with his hearing aid when he was that close to the electrified fence), and immediately went towards the back, where Lt. Surge must be. Clair sniffed slightly, as if she had just smelled a Grimer or Muk somewhere closeby.  
  
"Don't give me that, child. But it is good to know how to treat your betters." she said to him. Arik was really developing a dislike of this dragon trainer as a result. He watched her body language as she shifted most of her weight to one side, one high-heeled foot moving forward as if to menace him. "I am indeed the gym leader. I simply heard that the trainer, you, with the Dratini was in Vermilion City, and since I was coming to Kanto anyway, I thought I should meet the child with it. May I see your Dratini?" she asked now. Wait a sec... she actually asked to see it? Didn't make a condescending remark? Amazing!  
  
"Well, I suppose so..." he began, but a booming voice came from the back of the gym. Both trainer and Gym Leader turned to face the intruder in the conversation, but Arik blinked when he saw who it was. Blonde hair, tall, muscular, and definitely not of this country. Lt. Surge! He was widely known, in Kanto, as the Lightning American. Strong yet kind to all and pokemon, he wasn't exactly the brightest bulb in the set, all things considered.  
  
"Hey now, it ain't often we get another gym leader in here... the name's Surge." he said to them. He towered over both Arik and Clair, at about 6'8", and he looked to each of them before settling on the fairly attractive (and to be fair, she was about that attractive) Dragon Gym leader. He was wearing khaki jeans and jacket, with a white shirt under the jacket that could barely be seen. "And you must be Clair, from the Johto League's Blackthorn City Gym. Pleasure ta meet ya." he said, hoping that his accent wasn't too offensive to the diminutive gym leader. Clair coughed, raising a hand to block her mouth as she did this, and Arik just smiled a little. Well now, two gym leaders, one gym. This could certainly be interesting, he thought to himself.  
  
"Yes... well, it is nice to meet you too, Lieutenant Surge." she said to the Lightning American, bowing slightly to him, and the gym leader of this gym bowed in return, looking a little sheepish as his followers looked on. Arik just smiled slightly as he watched this little confrontation between two gym leaders. "I am sorry to say that I did not actually come here to meet with you, but to meet this trainer here on my way to visit with a friend of mine here in Kanto." she told him, and the look on Lt. Surge's face was priceless. He must be easily swayed, Arik thought... was that a tinge of red on his face? It took only a second for Arik to realize that he'd fallen for her, hook, line, sinker, and submarine. Ouch.  
  
"Ah, well, I ah, see. I believe he was going to have a gym battle with me, ain't that right kid?" he asked gruffly, looking to Arik for probably only the second time since he'd arrived in the gym. Arik shrugged slightly, before becoming aware that Clair was watching him carefully. Ack... not something that could be dealt with easily, he knew, as he looked back and forth for a second before looking to Surge again to reply. Arik really had to think about this- the leader of a gym that dealt with dragon types would be watching, after all. This was pressure that Arik hadn't been ready for when he had found himself here, but there was only so much he could think of in the few seconds before a reply was necessary for the waiting gym leader.  
  
"I am not really sure if my pokemon are ready for that kind of a challenge... I've only had them about a week now, two of them for less than that, actually. But hey, if my pokemon are ready for it, I'm willing to give it a shot." he told the Gym Leader, who quickly beamed his approval. He wanted to show his stuff to the visiting leader, it seemed, and Arik was the unfortunate soul who accidentally got caught in the middle. Horton and Gregory were both watching this, and were whispering about it as they walked out from the floor. Gregory moved over to a switch and pressed down on it. With the flick, the entire floor rumbled, and the floor itself shifted from the puzzle to the battle field. A flat surface, with a few small hills that looked like wouldn't be able to stand the weight of a Pidgey.  
  
"Two pokemon each, got it? No time limit... and Clair, if you would care to do the honors, I would be honored if you would choose to officiate." Lt. Surge said to Arik and Clair. Arik was surprised- two pokemon each? This gym leader was probably much stronger than any of Arik's pokemon, but chances were that he knew that, too. Clair nodded gracefully before glaring at Arik, as if to say that he better not mess this one up. Arik sighed slightly, before nodding to Surge, and walked over to the visitor's end of the battle field, taking up residence in the box provided for the trainers.  
  
Lt. Surge walked to his own side, and Clair stepped to the middle on the outline of the field. "Two pokemon battle. The gym leader will be unable to switch during the battle, while the challenger may do so at any time. And if you are both ready..." she declared, looking to the trainer and the gym leader. Both gave the nod for her to go ahead. "Begin!"  
  
Along Route 13   
  
Serra stopped for a break off on the land-side of the bridges that lined the cliffs over the water. She'd been walking for over half the day now, and now she was relaxing, enjoying the breeze that had picked up. Some clouds drifted by overhead, blocking out the sunlight every so often as she sat against the trunk of the tree behind her. She smiled, enjoying this simple pleasure- not having to worry about a thing except of where she was headed or what she'd do when she got to where she was going to go to. She'd gotten further in most of a day than she did in a day and a half without Janine's directions.  
  
She'd been relaxing for a little over twenty minutes when she heard a pokemon's cry from not too far away. It was coming from the direction of the stream she'd gone by a little while ago, which led to a small waterfall that cascaded down the side of the cliff and into the ocean that was to the east of this area. The grass was green and everything seemed healthy- Serra couldn't even begin to guess as to why a pokemon would be in trouble in a place such as this. It was a pleading sound to her, which gave Serra the impression that the pokemon needed help from something or someone. "Hang on..." she muttered, getting to her feet and heading back towards the stream.  
  
It only took her a minute to get there, and what she saw surprised her. Hadn't this type of pokemon, at one time, only been fond in the Seafoam Islands, far south and west of here, between Fuchsia and Cinnabar Island? It was a small pokemon, nearly the size of her arm, and was completely blue. It was tangled up in some sort of net that looked like it was discarded in the stream. She couldn't see the lower end, but she did recognize it anyway, from the rest of it's body. It had a little spout of a mouth, and it looked like one of those sucker pads that would keep stuffed pokemon dolls stuck to the inside of a car window at the end. The pokemon's body looked a bit darker than the normal blue she knew them to have- in fact, it was a bruise, she could tell, that covered much of the pokemon's body as she came closer.  
  
"Horsea? How'd you get trapped in there? Hold on a sec, I'll get you out." she told it, and the pokemon managed to turn enough to look to the girl that was scrambling over rocks to get to it. Finally, she just jumped into the water and walked over slowly- the stream wasn't very deep, and fortunately it wasn't filthy, either. She smiled to it reassuringly as she came close, and then quickly started to untangle the mess of the 'web'. The Horsea cried out in pain as it felt the rough net being pulled and twisted around its hide, and Serra winced as the rough texture of the net cut into her skin somewhat. "Ouch..."  
  
It took a few more minutes, but eventually Serra managed to make enough of a gap in the net for the Horsea to escape, whimpering the entire time. "Come on over to shore, Horsea. I'll get a potion out for you, and we can get you healed, okay?" she told it, and the Horsea nodded slowly, swimming very slowly and carefully over to the shoreline as Serra managed to climb out of the water and back onto the rocks, her pants soaked from the knees down. The way that this pokemon looked reminded her of how she felt every time she'd been defeated, she thought to herself, as she sat down on the grassy bank and pulled her backpack around to get at the pocket with the potions in it. She pulled it out and looked over to the Horsea, who was now patiently waiting.  
  
"I think I'll have to take you out of the water, little guy... hope you don't mind." she said, and reached over with her free hand, picking the pokemon up carefully. It was a little heavier than she thought it would be, but wound up setting it down, leaning against a rock. The Horsea was breathing hard, seeming to be in quite a bit of pain as it waited for the healing spray to be applied. Serra brought the potion around and aimed it at the Horsea's body, coating it liberally with the healing spray before turning the pokemon around and coating that side of it as well. There wasn't much area of the Horsea compared to her other pokemon, so she had to be sure to get every place on the pokemon so as not to waste a drop of the now depleted potion bottle. She detached the plastic bottle and set it into the sack, taking out another bottle and sliding it into place on the spray bottle.  
  
As usual, the potion took care of the pokemon's bruised and battered body quickly, most of the very dark blue, almost black, marks disappearing within a minute. Its breathing became much more relaxed, and the look in the pokemon's eyes was one of gratitude as it watched the trainer on her knees in front of it. "Do you feel better now, Horsea?" she asked it, and it nodded a bit faster than it had a moment ago. Serra smiled- she knew now how the Nurse Joys must feel when they manage to heal a hurt pokemon like this. She'd never take their jobs for granted again. "Good. Now, do you have a trainer?" she asked it, and then the Horsea shook its head, making a low, soft cry from its throat.  
  
Serra nodded at its answer- a clear no- and then winked to it. "If you like, would you want me to be your trainer? You don't have to be mine, if you don't want ta be, you know." she told it, smiling still. She'd learned a bit about Horsea back in Team Rocket. There were unconfirmed reports about Horsea in the Johto regions, that they could somehow evolve into a dragon-type pokemon. They were even called, in a pokedex, the 'dragon pokemon'. But all the experts agree that Horsea and Seadra were both only Water-type pokemon. No one knew how these pokemon could evolve into a dragon-type... not in Kanto, anyway, yet.  
  
The Horsea looked thoughtful for a second, looking away from Serra and back down the stream, where it emptied off the cliff and to the ocean. How it had managed to get up here was anyone's guess. Serra smile softened when she saw where it was looking. "Oh... you want to go back to the ocean, Horsea?" she asked quietly, and the Horsea nodded slightly, and then looked to her and shook its head to the trainer. This caused Serra to become a little confused. Just what was this pokemon trying to tell her? Then, she picked it up and set it back into the water carefully, so it could make its decision while in its element. "I'm not really going to the ocean, myself... If you want to go to the ocean, Horsea, I know a place along Route 12 where I could take you though, so you can get there without dealing with waterfalls." she told it, and the Horsea nodded at her words, seeming to smile.  
  
Was this pokemon playing hard to get? It was difficult to tell, really. Serra shrugged and then knelt down again, an unused pokeball falling from the open pocket of her jacket and rolling down the small incline towards the Horsea. It came to a rest in front of the pokemon, and Horsea looked at it as Serra waited to see what it would do. The Horsea came close to the pokeball and seemed to sniff it. It looked to Serra and gave her a wink before poking its head against the indicator button and was immediately drawn inside. Serra laughed as the indicator light shut off almost as soon as the pokemon was inside. "Tease!" she told the pokemon in the ball, and she could almost hear the laughter of the pokemon before she stood up again, with wet pants still, and headed north again, soon coming to Route 12 without dealing with any trainers.  
  
The route this way was pretty devoid of any trainers these days, now that the Announcement of the Safari Zone had made its way throughout Kanto. Only fishermen and those looking to find a reclusive place to train would bother with these routes anymore, as well as those trainers who would go to Fuchsia for the Soul Badge. Even those challengers seemed to dry up these days, the gym gaining maybe three challengers in a month. It was almost as bad as Cinnabar Island's attendance, though that was to be expected for Cinnabar- the gym leader had many gym trainers and few traienrs who went there to challenge him could make it past ALL of them.  
  
Then, while thinking about Cinnabar, Serra glanced to the southwest and gasped. There was smoke in the very far distance! It rose very high into the air, and Serra realized that it wasn't just smoke, but ash... Team Rocket had had a base deep in the island a while ago, where they had done research on a pokemon that she'd only heard rumors about. It had been called Mewtwo. Supposedly it was cloned from some ancient legendary pokemon, but the research had been transfered a few years back to another island somewhere in the Sevii Isles. That center had been destroyed somehow, probably when Giovanni had quit, so his research couldn't be traced by Team Rocket's investigating operatives back to him.  
  
Back in Vermilion, at about the same time   
  
Arik blinked as he looked towards the window that face to the south- his ears weren't just making things up. He heard a rumbling, and then felt a small rumbling. "This isn't just a pokemon's Earthquake attack... this is a natural one!" he said aloud, and both Gym Leaders looked out the window. "Hey, wait a sec... that's smoke!" he cried, and Arik ran out of the pokemon gym. Horton, Gregory, Lt. Surge, even Clair went out after him. Arik knew the layout of this region very well, as did Lt. Surge. The smoke came out from far away in the distance, over the water. If Arik was right, he knew where it was coming from. "Tha... that's Cinnabar Island... Lieutenant Surge, you don't think..." and he trailed off, looking to the much taller trainer.  
  
The gym leader nodded solemnly. "Yeah... That's Cinnabar Island's Volcano. It must've just blown up!" he commented. Clair just gasped, a hand covering her mouth as she watched, from afar, that which must be dealing a massive blow to the residents of the island. If there was that much smoke and ash blowing into the sky, there must be plenty of lava covering the surface of the island, too. "I jus' hope Blaine can take care of everything until enough trainers and the emergency teams can get 'der to help." he said, and then he ran off towards the docks. Horton and Gregory looked at each other and nodded. Gregory ran after his gym leader, and Horton looked to Arik and Clair.  
  
"Are you two just goin' to stand there? There ain't going to be a pokemon battle now for a badge. We're goin' to Cinnabar Island to try and help, and your pokemon would do wonders right now there, I think. What do ya say?" he asked the two, and Arik just nodded. Arik didn't even have to think about it. This was a port city, and there were many ships to be found here. A fast ship would take them to Cinnabar in just hours- fortunately, there were two Hi-Speed Gallop ships that serviced the Sevii Islands normally in port.  
  
"Yeah, I'm in. Clair, want to tag along?" Arik said, glancing up at the older trainer. He grinned slightly when he saw the shock in her eyes, and then determination formed in her features as she nodded slowly. He slapped her back lightly and then took off after the other two who had already gone, Horton turning and running beside him. Clair was snapped out of her reverie after the slap on the back, and her eyes narrowed. Who was this trainer to dare touch her without permission of the smallest sort? Still, now wasn't the time. All available trainers had a job that they needed to do, a moral obligation...  
  
Arik just hoped that Janine and Serra would understand that, as he raced for the docks. There were just some things that trainers can't sit out, and helping others was one of those things. Especially in an emergency like this one!  
  
-----  
  
Author's Note: This is a lot of Johto's G/S/C information, isn't it? Still, it does make me feel good about keeping true to the storyline provided in those games, as far as events taking place chronologically. I've been wanting to get Clair in this for a while now, actually, and I'm glad I finally found a way to use her as a character. Lt. Surge was always a favorite gym leader of mine, even if he used a Raichu in the anime. Please, leave a review! I planned on ending after beginning the pokemon battle at the gym, but I thought that introducing and emergency along this scale would be a better way to finish the chapter. Feel free to e-mail me at , if you have any suggestions as to how to proceed. Oh, one last note. Would you believe I finished this chapter the day after I posted Chapter 4? I did! 


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